Nathan Coulter-Nile: ‘You can’t be playing cricket at 02:00 am’

The Kolkata Knight Riders seamer suggested Indian Premier League rules could do with a revision.

Published : May 18, 2017 14:36 IST , Bengaluru

Nathan Coulter-Nile (centre) took 3 for 20 in his four overs.
Nathan Coulter-Nile (centre) took 3 for 20 in his four overs.
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Nathan Coulter-Nile (centre) took 3 for 20 in his four overs.

There may be need to have a fresh look at the Indian Premier League rules, according to Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile, after his team sneaked home against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a rain-curtailed match at 01:30 am on Thursday.

Knight Riders survived a rain scare to notch up a seven-wicket win via the Duckworth-Lewis method after it was set a revised target of 48 runs from six overs. “Well, no one really got nervous until when they went out there for the last look at about 12:40am. It sorted of looked like I didn’t want to play. I think there is so much time, rules probably need to be looked at, I mean it’s 02:00 am, you can’t be playing cricket at 2 o’ clock. But I wasn’t nervous at all. There was so much time, we had to get on,” he said after the match.

Coulter-Nile returned with a three-wicket haul. Two of the wickets - Vijay Shankar and Chris Jordan - were taken in a frugal 19th over in which he conceded just three runs. The Australian seamer credited fellow Knight Riders fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Trent Boult for giving him helpful bowling guidance. “I think I bowled the seventh or eighth over and they said ‘Look, cross-seamers into the wicket, throw them hard’ and you really rely on your team-mates to give you some pointers on what to do.” he said.

Turning point

David Warner’s dismissal was the turning point of the match, feels Coulter-Nile, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain is destructive. “Piyush removed Warner, that I thought was the turning point. He is that kind of a bloke who can turn a 130 into a 150 or 160. That started with the first over,” he said.

Coulter-Nile said Knight Riders was belligerent right from ball one during its chase as the 48-run target was not an easy one given the slow nature of the wicket at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. “Well, 130 (Sunrisers scored 128 in its 20 overs) was a par score but it was a difficult wicket definitely. The cross-seam was holding up and the slower ones were getting a little bit of grip,” Coulter-Nile told reporters at post-match press conference here.

“So, it was tough to play and once the weather came in, it got a lot easy to bat. I think the balls skidding on, and once the ball’s wet it actually skidded through. There wasn’t a lot of turn or anything like that so I thought maybe 140... 10 runs make a lot of difference,” he said. “It was not a big target, but on that wicket you really never know. You got 10 wickets in hand, there is six overs, there is no point to defend. If the top six batsmen go hard and one of them comes off then you win the game. So, I think we batted well. Of course the run-out was a bit silly but everything else just fine,” he said.

Coulter-Nile revealed his team’s anxious moments while waiting for rain to stop: “When it was raining, we were quietly confident because 12.50 am was the cut off time. It kept raining and raining. The covers kept coming on and off. So, we were getting twitchy. [Knight Riders] will now play [Mumbai Indians] on Friday at the same venue and will be praying that the rain gods will stay away,” he said.

On his comeback after recovering from a head injury, Coulter-Nile said, “It is feeling little better as it was a couple of days ago. I never thought it would affect me as much as it did. I went to bed at 10 pm and woke up at 7 pm the next day and I had headaches. I am glad it is over now.”

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