Coulter-Nile delighted with show

Kolkata Knight Riders’ seamer Nathan Coulter-Nile said their middle order batted beautifully against Delhi Daredevils after the losing their top three in the powerplay overs. 

Reeling at 21/3, Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan put up a century stand for the fourth wicket to bail out their side during its chase of 169 runs.

“We were hard pressed after losing the top three in the first six (overs). But we back our lower and middle. Losing one or two wickets doesn’t really bother us. Our middle order batted beautifully today,” said Coulter-Nile.

Coulter-Nile, returning from a long injury-lay off due to a stress fracture, was excited with his 3-22, that fetched him the man of the match award. “Getting back was tough, it was long time out of the game. Probably it was the hard year of my life, but now back playing T20 cricket, doing well and contributing to the win, it was worth it in the end,” he said.

The Australian, who took the wicket of Rishabh Pant, defended his team-mate Umesh Yadav who got some harsh treatment from the attacking wicket-keeper batsman. “I don’t think Umesh went wrong. He had had his plans, he tried to execute them but sometimes in T20 a batsman gets away. What I tried into that wicket is to try bowl some slow balls, and wider balls, and keep him (Pant) guessing,” he said.

Daredevils seamer Pat Cummins admitted that Pandey-Pathan partnership took the game away from them. “We were definitely expecting a win after we saw off the top three Kolkata batsmen but we let them (Pathan and Pandey) settle in.”