IPL 2018: Chris Woakes Eager to Share the Same Dressing Room as Kohli, De Villiers

After his successful stint in the IPL last season, English all-rounder, Chris Woakes, will join forces with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the upcoming editions of IPL.

Woakes was part of Kolkata Knight Riders camp before bidding wars during this season soared up his price tag to a whopping INR 7.4 crores.

Woakes now has an opportunity play alongside modern greats – Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers with fellow Englishmen Moeen Ali.

After the recent loss at Hamilton, Woakes opened up about the learnings from his 2017 stint in IPL. The Warwickshire player claims he learnt the art of hiding the ball from KKR bowling mentor Laksmipathy Balaji.

Earlier, Woakes received a substantial amount of flak from cricketing pundits in England after missing out on Champions Trophy due to injury. Many claimed his injury during the multi-lateral tournament occurred due to his participation in IPL.

“I’ve tried to hide it a little bit for a while. It’s something I learned from the IPL, they hid it and from facing guys I always felt the more they hide it the harder it is to see those slower balls or changes of pace,” suggested Chris Woakes.

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Learnt a lot from Balaji: Woakes

“[Balaji] was very good at hiding the ball and he bowled in the nets off a few paces and you literally couldn’t pick him. Sometimes you’ll hide it and bowl a quicker one and sometimes a slower ball. It’s all mind games,” further augment Woakes according to Espncricinfo.

With his upcoming stint at Bangalore, Woakes hopes some of the batting attributes from Kohli and De Villiers rub on his willow.

“It will be interesting to see how Kohli goes about his business. He’s a world-class player, one of the best if not the best in the white-ball game so that will be exciting to see how he goes about it,” the 28-year old said.

“Obviously, you get a perception of a guy playing against them so to be in the same dressing-room as him, de Villiers – all these guys – it will be great to learn from them,” concluded Chris Woakes.

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