PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Former West Indies off-spinner Rangy Nanan has praised the selection of fellow Trinidadian Sunil Narine for the third One-Day International against India, and says playing leg-spinner Anthony Martin in the first match of the series was a mistake.
Narine, an off-spinner, made an impressive debut on Monday in Ahmedabad, snaring two for 34 from 10 overs to help West Indies defending a total of 260 and win by 16 runs.
“Sunil was very impressive on debut and actually played a very big part in West Indies defeating the World champions. He got the impressive (Virat) Kohli and when Rohit Sharma and (Ravi) Ashwin were putting together a partnership he removed Ashwin,” Nanan said.
“Sunil is a very tight bowler and shows tremendous control. I am particularly impressed with his knuckle ball. This is a ball that is bowled using the fingers alone and is delivered like a leg-break. This is a difficult ball to control and yet he bowls it at such immaculate line and length.”
“They used Martin for the [first game] and I think this was a big mistake. If you look at the recent Nokia Champions League in India, Sunil troubled Indian batsmen while playing for Trinidad and Tobago,” Nanan pointed out.
“They should have looked at this and include him from the start. This young man has a bright future ahead of him and will go places. He just needs to continue his hard work and stay focus on his game.
“These days staying focussed seems to be very difficult but he needs to keep a good head and just keep building his game.”
