West Indies’ bowling mainstay Sunil Narine says that there is no variation called “teesra” like what Saeed Ajmal is believed to deliver and it is only about playing “mindgames” with the opposition batsmen.
Asked whether there is a possibility of a “teesra” apart from traditional off-break and the “doosra” (wrong’un) that goes the other way, he gave a straight-forward answer.
“It’s probably playing mindgames with the batsmen. Batsmen nowadays can do a lot of things as the game revolves around them. There is very little that bowlers can do, so might just play mindgames,” Narine said during an interaction ahead of ICC World T20 campaign on Wednesday.
As an extension to that answer, he agreed that trends are changing in T20 and bowlers have their task cut out.
“Bowlers are trying out something new everyday. But you might not know what might just come out and what might not work,” he added.
The 25-year-old Narine, who is one of the most sought-after bowlers in T20 cricket with a brilliant career economy rate of under six (5.43) across 107 T20 matches (domestic + International), said that he would like to concentrate on his strengths.
Will there be any surprise delivery, pat came the reply, “No surprises. I am trying to keep it as simple as possible. What I have been doing for the last two to three years, I will be doing just that.”
Narine was instrumental in Kolkata Knight Riders’ maiden Indian Premier League triumph during its fifth edition in 2012. Narine feels that IPL helps the bowlers gain confidence ahead of a big tournament like the ICC World T20.
“IPL has made a lot of difference. It is a high level tournament and performing there and then coming into the big tournament makes it a bit easier.”
Narine has taken 21 wickets from six Test matches and there has been a school of thought that he is not as effective in the longer version of the game.
“No, it doesn’t hurt (when critics speak about his failure in Tests). If I don’t perform well in Test cricket, they are allowed to say that,” he said.
The only time when he started sidestepping, was when he was asked about Ravichandran Ashwin trying to copy his bowling action during the recently concluded Asia Cup in Bangladesh.
“Honestly, I haven’t seen it so I can’t comment much on it. Bowlers can bowl like whoever they like. It’s their choice if they try to pick up someone’s action,” Narine said.
Similarly, he was non-committal on the legality of ‘doosra’.
“I have no view on this matter. If a bowler wants to bowl doosra, he can bowl it.”
Narine seemed pretty hopeful about the West Indies’ chances in the tournament.
“Yes, we are certainly favourites having won the Cup in 2012. But it depends on who plays better on the day. We will definitely miss Pollard but guys who are in the squad are pretty capable. We should be doing well even without Pollard, and retain World T20 trophy,” Narine exuded confidence.
