Sunil Narine had indicated earlier that he is not ready to return to international cricket: chief selector Roger Harper

On Saturday, February 27, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced the One Day and T20I squad for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour of West Indies comprising three T20 Internationals, three One Day Internationals and two Test matches, starting from March 3, 2021 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG). There were some surprise inclusions in the West Indies squad as Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards are all set to make their comeback in the international circuit after a long time.

Sunil Narine, who had last played for West Indies in August 2019 and has represented the Caribbean nation in 65 ODIs and 51 T20Is, didn’t find a place in any of the two squads. Speaking about his surprising exclusion from the West Indies team, CWI lead selector Roger Harper revealed that Narine is not ready to make his international comeback yet.

“Sunil Narine had indicated earlier that he is not ready to return to international cricket. He’s still fine-tuning his game and getting himself ready. From that perspective, he wasn’t considered for this series,” said Harper as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Names missing the ODI and T20I squad apart from Sunil Narine

Apart from Sunil Narine, power-hitter Andre Russell also didn’t find a place in the ODI and T20I squad. The reason behind this is that the all-rounder is still recovering after he had tested positive for novel coronavirus earlier this month. Though Russel had tested negative a week ago, he was ruled out by the CWI Medical Panel whilst he completes his “return to play” protocols.

Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Shimron Hetmyer, and Roston Chase weren’t considered after failing to meet the required fitness standard while Akeal Hosein and Kevin Sinclair got their maiden call-ups for the West Indies team.

Speaking about the selections, Roger stated, “As we build towards the defence of the T20 World Cup, the opportunity is being taken to determine our best team and squad as we go forward. Chris Gayle has performed very well in recent tournaments and the selection panel thinks that he can still add great value to our team. Fidel Edwards has been selected to give the bowling the potent firepower needed”