Nathu Singh says wasn’t intimidated by Gayle and Kohli

Two young Indian fast bowlers Nathu Singh and Basil Thampi have been bowling brilliantly for the Gujarat Lions. Nathu was very instrumental in building pressure on Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli in Gujarat’s clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Thampi removed the RCB skipper. The duo earned praises from all quarters thereon.  After the match, Aaron Finch, who smashed 72 off 34 balls, praised Thampi and Nathu for the way they bowled.

Nathu, son of a factory worker, whose rags to riches story hogged limelight after the auctions last year, spoke to ahead of Gujarat’s must win clash against Delhi talked his performance against Kohli and Gayle, he said he maintained composure by thinking that the two RCB batsmen were just another ordinary batting duo.

“When I was bowling, I did not have any pressure. I was just trying to concentrate on bowling the right areas. I did not want to think that it was Gayle and Kohli batting in front of me,” he said.

He also is thankful to captain Suresh Raina for continuously backing him to perform better. An inexperienced Nathu was given the ball to open Gujarat’s bowling attack against RCB, which not every new and young bowler gets to do.

“I want to say thank you to Raina that he gave me the first over. I was nervous when I was about to bowl the first over in the match against RCB but he gave me the confidence,” he added.

In the tenth season of the IPL, the Raina led team has opened the bowling with bowlers who have had nil international experience. The likes of Thampi, Nathu Singh, Shubham Agarwal and Pradeep Sangwan got chances, with the Kerala bowler emerging as a big success with eight wickets from nine games. Both Thampi and Nathu share a good equation with one another.

“I get plenty of confidence when I am bowling with Basil Thampi. When we were in Pune with the Indian team the last time, we bowled together. He is determined to improve his performance every single time and that motivates me to do well as well,” Nathu said.