HYDERABAD (India): Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) coach Trevor Bayliss has expressed surprise over their premier off-spinner Sunil Narine being reported for suspected illegal bowling action.

“Nothing’s been said during the last three years he [Narine] has been with KKR. So that was a bit of a surprise,” Bayliss said on Wednesday ahead of their team’s clash with Hobart Hurricanes in the Champions League T20 semi-final.

The coach, however, said the spinner was confident of overcoming the problem. “Sunil is a very placid character. It takes a bit to ruffle him. In fact he’s very confident,” Bayliss said.

“It might be a problem. In fact, he does know there’s a concern now. He’s got something he can go and work on. If he had known beforehand there’s a concern, he’d have been able to do some work on it in the past,” the coach said, adding that he looked good during 20-minute net session.

Narine was reported for suspected illegal bowling action during Monday’s match against the Dolphins at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. He was was reported by both on-field umpires along with third umpire.

The report specifically relates to the quicker ball bowled by the spinner. Narine has been placed on the warning list and may continue to be selected to play and bowl for his team in a match, the organisers said.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014