Break from International cricket helped the England all-rounder develop his game
Internet Desk: Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir’s comment during the innings break last night spurred him and his team-mates, feels England fast bowler Chris Woakes. The KKR captain wanted his bowlers to show “intent and pride” which they did to perfection by pulling off an incredible win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens. The power packed RCB batting were dismissed for 49 runs – the lowest ever total in history of Indian Premier League.
“The captain asked us to show some intent and some pride. The opening bowlers set the tone for us. From there on, it was just trying to put the ball in right areas,” the 28-year-old Woakes said at the post match conference.
The trio of Nathan Coulter Nile (3-0-21-3), Chris Woakes (2-0-6-3) and Colin de Grandhomme (1.4-0-4-3) ripped apart the vaunted RCB batting to script an unbelievable win at the Eden Gardens.
“Coulter-Nile and Umesh got to swing the ball up front. When I came on, it did not swing but a little bit of movement off the length. If you hit the areas, more often than not it puts the batsmen under pressure especially when wickets are falling around,” said the England fast bowler about the team strategy.
The Warwickshire cricketer took a break from international cricket to develop his game. He has never looked back since coming back after the break as he has proved himself to be an important clog in the England bowling line up in recent times.
“I had to step out of international cricket for a couple of years to a certain extent – although I was briefly in and out of the side – and get my game in order.
“Particularly with the ball, I had to put on a yard of pace. I did that pretty quickly, but then almost lost the skills I had before. I found it hard to get batsmen out, because pace isn’t everything if you don’t know what to do with it.
“Then, when I was back hitting a better line and length, moving it around a little bit, at good pace, I got a decent run in the team, which really helped,” said Woakes.
The England cricketer also admitted that the strip at Eden Gardens also worked in their favour.
“The wicket was nice to bowl on. At the Eden Gardens, if you are off the area, you get punished because the outfield is quick. It actually is a good batting surface. As we have seen in previous games, 180 is par which is a good T20 score. But we bowled quite well on that pitch,” he said.
He admitted that at the break, it wasn’t like the team was supremely confident.
“I think I would be lying to say that we came at the half time saying that we would definitely win the game. Not often you defend 130 particularly here at Eden Gardens,” Woakes said.
None of RCB’s batters could reach a double digit as their respective runs resembled a mobile number — 70189820250 — to succumb to the lowest total in the history of IPL.
“We speak about their batting line-up, three in particular are world class. We had a high price on their wickets. The fact that we got those three early (Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle), it really made a big difference in us defending the total.”
The England all-rounder also gave credit to the RCB bowlers for restricting the KKR batting to a low score after the blazing start the home side got from Sunil Narine.
“Obviously we were little bit down halfway. We were under-par, and thought 160-170 was probably par on that wicket. We obviously did not bat very well but they also did not bat well. At the same time we bowled well. Sometime you have to just doff your hat to some good bowling,” signed off Woakes.
Woakes along with most of the eight English cricketers currently playing in the IPL will soon join the England Champions Trophy squad.