St. John's: Highly-rated off-spinner Sunil Narine on Tuesday pulled out of the West Indies World Cup squad, saying he needed more time to work on his bowling action.
The 26-year-old has undergone "intense remedial work" after being suspended from last year's Champions League Twenty20 for an illegal action, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said in a statement.
Narine was ruled to have exceeded the the 15-degree flexion allowance, the Board explained.
But Narine said he still needed time before taking to the World Cup stage.
"Whilst I am very happy with the progress made to date with my action.....I am withdrawing from the World Cup," he said.
"Going into the World Cup is a little too much too soon and, after consulting the WICB, for both West Indies and my sake we have decided to delay my return to international cricket until I am 100% confident in all that I do," he added.
The Board said they backed Narine's decision to withdraw from the World Cup where the West Indies open on February 16 against Ireland before going on to face Pool B rivals, defending champions India, South Africa, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates.