T20 Blast: Surrey Furious As Sunil Narine Abandons Plan For 4 Games In 75 Hours Across 2 Continents

Sunil Narine has given up on his plans of a 9,000-mile round trip from Dallas to Birmingham as he has pulled out of the upcoming T20 Blast Finals, leaving Surrey disappointed and frustrated.

The county outfit received the news of Sunil Narine’s decision on Wednesday, just a couple of days ahead of Saturday’s semifinal against Somerset as well as the final if they qualify. Sunil Narine was one of Surrey’s key players and his decision has now left them with only one overseas player, Sean Abbott.

Earlier reports stated that Sunil Narine was fancying the possibility of playing for Surrey on Saturday before making a return trip to the United States of America for the ongoing Major League Cricket where he is a part of the Los Angeles Knight Riders squad.

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The star spinner was in the UK for the last six weeks, since the conclusion of the IPL before flying to the United States of America last Friday after Surrey’s win over Lancashire in the quarterfinal. He had played in all of Surrey’s 15 games till the quarterfinal and was their leading wicket-taker with 20 scalps to his name.

Sunil Narine joined the LA Knight Riders last week for the tournament opener against Texas Super Kings on Thursday. And while it was expected that he would make another trip to the UK for the T20 Blast Finals Day before returning to the US, the West Indies bowler has given up on his plans and has decided to stay with the LA Knight Riders.

In case, he would have decided to fly to the UK for the Finals and Surrey would have qualified for the final, he would have played four games within a 75-hour window. He would have also spent almost 20 of those 75 hours on the flights.

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Surrey disappointed with Sunil Narine:

Sunil Narine’s last-minute decision has not pleased Surrey at all. Alec Stewart, former England batsman and Surrey’s director of cricket could not stop himself from venting his frustration over missing a player of Sunil Narine’s caliber at such notice.

“When we signed Sunil for the T20 Blast, we knew there was a possibility he might not be available for Finals Day due to his pre-existing contract with the Knight Riders in the MLC.

“However, all subsequent discussions with various parties since his arrival for the group games and leading up to this week indicated that he would be back with us for Saturday. It’s disheartening and frustrating to lose a player of Sunil’s caliber at such short notice,” said Stewart.

The existing rules will also not allow Surrey to sign an overseas player as Sunil Narine’s replacement ahead of the Finals day. As per ECB regulations, players must be registered with a county during the group stages of a competition to be eligible for the knockout stages.

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