Sunil Narine likely to choose Kolkata Knight Riders over West Indies

KOLKATA: The West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB's) ultimatum to its players to join the national camp latest by June 1 - the day of the IPL final - has not gone down well with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which owns and runs the high-profile T20 league.
Hectic parleys are on to persuade the WICB to allow Sunil Narine, the only player in Windies' 15-member Test squad still involved in IPL action, to turn out for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 7 final in Bangalore on June 1.
There is nothing official about it, but reliable sources in the KKR camp maintained that Narine will be staying back to play the final even if the WICB sticks to its guns and leaves him out of the team for the first Test versus New Zealand beginning in Jamaica on June 8.
The KKR management is hoping that a compromise will be hammered out to enable Narine to approach the title-decider in a good frame of mind before reporting for national duty.
On their part, KKR are ready to put Narine on the first available flight after the final so that he is in Barbados by June 3, the final day of the preparatory camp.
Narine has been a vital cog in KKR's bowling unit and is the second-highest wicket-taker in IPL 7 with 20 wickets.
Even if Narine fails to meet the WICB deadline he will remain in the WI squad of 15 and be eligible to be picked for the remaining two Test matches, the WICB confirmed.
The WICB is, of course, well within its rights to call up its players for international assignments under the Future Tours Programme and keeping in view their players' involvement in the IPL, it had extended the deadline for reporting to the camp from May 22 to June 1.
No-Objection Certificates issued by WICB to its players for the IPL stipulated that they would be available no later than one week before a Test series.
The BCCI mandarins, however, feel that the 'club versus country' debate could have been avoided with a show of little give and take. A BCCI official pointed out that though New Zealand have already started their tour of the West Indies, the NZC had allowed skipper Brendon McCullum and all-rounder Corey Anderson to conclude their IPL commitments with the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, respectively, before joining their teammates in the Caribbean.