Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) middle order batsman Manish Pandey thinks that the new buys Trent Boult and Chris Woakes would help the Kolkata based side to do well in the upcoming Indian Premier League season 10, starting April 5.
The KKR management bought English all-rounder Chris Woakes and Blackcaps pace spearhead Trent Boult by 4.2 crore and 5 crore in the 2017 auctions.
“These two players, Woakes and Boult, will be really good,” said Pandey, who is playing for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against MS Dhoni led Jharkhand in their opening encounter at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, told reporters.
“It will be good help to have all-rounders like them. These two players will make a lot of difference for us,” the 27-year old Pandey added.
WADA has banned Andre Russell for one year and he will not be able to play this year’s IPL for the Knight Riders. According to Manish, it would create a few problems for the Kolkata based outfit.”Russell played a really good part in some games for us. He is been the match winner for KKR for a long time and I think him not being in the side would be a little bit of worry for us. But I think our team has the players with similar talents and abilities replacing him, so I think it will be a good outing for us in the IPL 10.”
Pandey also added that it will be a great chance for him to play at Eden Gardens before the Indian Premier League 2017 as it will help him to recognize how the pitch is playing.
“It’s like coming back home. The conditions don’t really change that much unless it’s a different wicket. Before the IPL, it will be a good start here to see how the wicket is behaving and then take it forward from there,” the middle-order batsman said.
According to Pandey, their plan would be to get the former Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s wicket as early as possible because they know if Dhoni remain in the crease for some time, he has the capability to take the match away from any side.
“We all know how great a batsman Dhoni is. It will always be nice to get him out as early as possible.”