India A hero Gurkeerat Singh says pressure situations bring out the best in him

Gurkeerat Singh’s all-round heroics helped India A beat Bangladesh A in Bengaluru.

Gurkeerat Singh, who starred for India A in the first ODI against Bangladesh A on Wednesday, said he thrives well under pressure and such situations bring out the best in him.

"Actually, I am trying to build my place in the batting order. I am used to batting at No 5 or 6 for Punjab so I am enjoying it. I need to bat in pressure situations. I feel that I thrive in these situations," he said during the post match conference.

The 25-year old, who has been in good form, said he wants to continue to bat well. "I have been batting well and want to continue batting well. I had an injury before this game. Thankfully everything went well", he said.

Singh has been in rich form ever since the recent tri-series involving Australia A and South Africa A, scoring runs in critical situations and picking up wickets as a spinner. And in the recent first ODI against Bangladesh A, his all-round performance, 65 with the bat and 5 wickets with the ball, helped India A secure a 96-run win.

Dravid has been great mentor for us: Singh

Gurkeerat had a quiet IPL having featured in just 5 matches, but had a fulfilling Ranji season, having scored 677 runs at an average of over 56. However, he feels his batting needed to be refined further and wise words from coach Rahul Dravid was helping him improve his technique.

"I think it's been great. I've been learning a lot from him, Rahul sir. He's been a great mentor for us, whenever we have had some problem, especially me, in my batting or anything, I just went up to him and he was always ready to give his advice”, he said about the legend.

"Few things which I wanted to improve on, seeing my last Ranji Trophy season. I just wanted to know what shots to play in which situations. He was kind enough to offer me some tips. I was talking to him about my straight drives because my foot was going across. I practised with him to get my foot right in the line of the ball", he continued.

Before the start of the Bangladesh A series, Gurkeerat was a tad worried about his injury which he picked up in one of the district matches after the tri-series. “My webbing got torn. I was playing district matches after the final of the tri-series, after that I just came in and played two matches, my domestic inter-district matches but I was a bit worried how I will, bat but everything went well. It's been 20-22 days (recovery period)", he signed off.