Coach Trevor Bayliss believes that Kolkata Knight Riders have made a smooth transition from Sunil Narine to Brad Hogg but claimed that his side still want the West Indian mystery spinner back as soon as possible to bolster their bowling attack, in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
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After being barred by the Board of Control for Cricket in India from bowling his off-break deliveries following a retest in Chennai, Narine underwent a third test and the report is still awaited.
In the absence of Narine, 44-year-old Australian chinaman bowler Brad Hogg has proved to be an able replacement, having taken eight wickets in four matches, including a four-wicket haul in their win against Chennai Super Kings.
"The performance of our spinners particularly Hogg replacing Sunil has been a fairly easy transition. It really has not affected the team very much at all," Bayliss said on Wednesday, on the eve of their clash against Delhi Daredevils.
"Obviously we're hoping that he gets back into play as quick as possible. He's an important part of our team, like a popular member of the squad," he said.
In IPL 8, Narine has taken two wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 8.08 and was left out of Kolkata's away clash against Chennai Super Kings on April 28 to accommodate Hogg.
Even as the future looks bleak for Narine, the KKR chief coach backed the Trinidad off-spinner saying he would need a couple of years to get back to his usual self following changes to his bowling action.
"He's done a lot of hard work after the CLT20. If you have seen the first two or three games this season his action was very very good. Over a period of time, under a little bit pressure, the body reverts to the action you usually bowl," Bayliss said.
"It will take a year or two to be absolutely perfect under pressure. It will depend on how hard he works on it but he's worked very hard on that since October and turned up in the IPL with a new action. We're quite confident he wants to work hard, he wants to play cricket and wants to do the right the thing."
On Narine's latest update, Bayliss said: "We can't really do anything till we find out the results of the tests. He's continuing to work on his new action as he's done for last three-four months. When we find out we'll make some decisions."
Bayliss said Hogg had impressed the KKR think tank during his Champions League T20 sojourn for Perth Scorchers in India in September-October last year.
"We picked him as a replacement for Sunil because we were not exactly sure what's going to happen with Sunil. We wanted a spinner who was difficult to pick for a lot of batters, and certainly Hogg was in that category.
"Especially in the Big Bash League batsmen found him difficult to pick. He performed a similar role for Perth Scorchers when he had come here for the CLT20 in September there was not many Indian or international batters who picked his wrong ones. The batsmen were not sure what's coming down the wicket just makes the job a little bit more difficult and hopefully it brings more wickets for us. Hogg has done a fantastic job in Sunil's absence," said Bayliss.
On April 29, a BCCI statement confirmed that while he was permitted to bowl variations, including the knuckle ball and the quicker deliveries, he was barred from bowling his off-spinners as he went for a fresh test, the report of which is still awaited.
Having been reported thrice in six months in a BCCI-run tournament, Narine faces international suspension if the on-field umpires report him again.
Pointing out that bowling had been KKR's main strength, Bayliss said he is looking forward for their batting to click as a unit and get stronger as the tournament gets to the business end.
"We want to be playing our best cricket towards the end of the tournament. Our batting which probably has been our weak link has started to click. Certainly our bowling has been our strength over a number of years. Our bowlers for the last three-four seasons have done a fantastic job. If our batting clicks, we'll be a force in this competition."
Bayliss also said that IPL is not of international standard but the atmosphere and hype brings out the best from the players.
"It's not international cricket. There are some international players, but it is not quite the standard of international cricket. There's a lot of people watching the game. There's lot of hype, a lot of noise around you. When players perform in front of those crowd you want to do well," Bayliss said.
"It's not just from our team but you see some fantastic performances from a lot of players throughout the competition," he added.