Chris Woakes appreciates Coulter-Nile after KKR crushed RCB

“We were obviously under par and we knew that. The heads were down in the dressing room at half-time," Woakes said.

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Chris Woakes Kolkata Knight Riders
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Chris Woakes. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Kolkata Knight Riders proved yet again that a good bowling attack is more lethal than a power-packed batting line-up. On a batting friendly wicket, KKR were bowled out for a mere score of 131 runs. At the half way stage, not many thought KKR would win this match, but the likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme had their plans for the opposition.

They picked up three wickets each to upstage Virat Kohli’s men by 82 runs. Also, Royal Challengers Bangalore recorded the lowest total in IPL history, getting bowled out for one short of 50-run mark.

Coulter-Nile set the tone for his team, picking the pillars of RCB line-up Kohli and AB de Villiers. Woakes appreciated his efforts saying, “Watching him bowl, you could just tell that he was in good rhythm,” he told iplt20.com on Sunday (April 23).

“He was hitting the pitch pretty hard and moving the ball well. He got the ball swinging. Getting Virat Kohli first ball showed you his confidence. From then on, I suppose you just try and put the ball in your right areas and hope for the wickets to come. It was a great opening spell of T20 bowling,” Woakes added.

Both the teams were bowled out and were finding it difficult to keep the right foot, even then, Coulter-Nile felt that it was a good wicket to bat on. “It was a tough wicket to bowl actually,” he pointed out. “If you went a little bit off, you got punished. I went for 41 the last time against Gujarat Lions. You just got to be right on the money. Sometimes you go for runs and sometimes you got the wickets. It was fun to play there,” the right-arm pacer said.

Woakes revealed that the atmosphere in the dressing room wasn’t a happy one after they folded a below par total. “We were obviously under par and we knew that. The heads were down in the dressing room at half-time,”

“But, we came out and we had a chat and we said it was time to show some pride and fight. The captain wanted some intensity and the two opening bowlers did that. The rest of us backed it up from there on. I suppose until you go out there and don’t pick wickets, you don’t believe you can do it. Once we started getting wickets, all of a sudden you had belief,” he added.

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