Hopefully Boult, Woakes will live up to their reputation: Gautam Gambhir

Kolkata Knight Riders have been one of the most consistent sides in the recent editions of the IPL. They have lifted the coveted silverware twice in the history of the competition under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. The elegant veteran southpaw recently spoke about his team combinations for the upcoming edition of the tournament. Gambhir rightly noted how the team management was keen on beefing up their bowling attack at the auctions this year.

They roped in the services of New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, English all-rounder Chris Woakes and Australia’s Nathan Coulter-Nile. This pace trio comes in as an addition to the existing firepower of Umesh Yadav and Ankit Rajpoot. Gautam Gambhir also expects the mystery spinner Sunil Narine to come good this season as well.

“Hopefully, these guys can live up to their reputation. Someone like Boult can be very useful for us who can swing the ball up front at a reasonable pace. We have strengthened our attack with pace, I thought we made a very sensible move at the auction,” quoted the KKR skipper as per the recent quotes in ESPNcricinfo.

“We felt last year that wickets weren’t that helpful for spinners. Someone like Sunil Narine is a big threat in any conditions but we realised that there wasn’t a lot of help for our spinners so we went for genuine fast bowlers. We have someone like Umesh Yadav and Ankit Rajpoot and three quality foreign fast bowlers as well. Our bowling attack is really good and hopefully we can utilise that,” Gambhir conceded further.

The Kolkata franchise also boasts of young talent like Kuldeep Yadav. Yadav, who has made sporadic appearances for KKR in the past, has grown in stature in Indian cricket in the recent times. He made his Test debut against Australia at Dharamsala and bagged 4/68 in his debut innings to leave everyone impressed. Gambhir remains no exception and lauded Kuldeep as an excellent bowler.

Praising the young chinaman, the Delhi batsman quoted, “From a skills point of view, he is pretty consistent. If he bowls a bad ball, it is usually a fuller ball. He hardly bowls a short delivery. That kind of consistency for a wristspinner is a massive quality to have. If you have to mistake you’d much rather make it fuller than shorter. He hardly bowls long-hops which is a big quality to have.”

“Kuldeep has a big heart, that is what you look for in any spinner who wants to go on and play for India. Hopefully he can play for a very long time, just let him enjoy his game and express himself,” he added further.