Birmingham Bears stars Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to an emphatic 82-run victory over pre-tournament favourite Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
After losing the toss and being asked to bat first on their home ground of Eden Gardens, KKR struggled to 131 all out in 19.3 overs with Woakes being the second top-scorer with 18.
However, despite RCB’s fearsome top-order batting line-up of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, Woakes and de Grandhomme joined forces with fellow KKR seamers Australian Nathan Coulter-Nile and India’s Umesh Yadav to dismiss the visitors for just 49; the lowest score in IPL history.
After Coulter-Nile dismissed Kohli and de Villers, Woakes made a scintillating first change introduction to the KKR attack by dismissing West Indian great Gayle with a banged-in delivery, and then took a second wicket in his first over by removing Stuart Binny with away swinger that found the edge.
He then trapped West Indian Samuel Badree lbw in his second over and finished with outstanding figures of 3-6 off two overs.
New Zealand all-rounder de Grandhomme, who will make his debut for the Bears against local rivals Worcestershire Rapids on 7 July, also produced an outstanding spell by removing three of the last four RCB batsmen for just four runs.
The win takes KKR to second in the IPL table with 10 points, with five wins from seven games. Mumbai Indians are top with 12 points and last year’s champions Sunrisers Hyderabad are in third place on eight points.
Woakes, de Grandhomme and KKR travel to Rising Pune Supergiants for their next game, starting at 3.30pm on Wednesday.
