Getting Chris Gayle 'best feeling' of my life: Basil Thampi

RAJKOT: If there's been something good about a mediocre Gujarat Lions attack in

IPL 10

, it's Basil Thampi. The tall pacer from Kerala has impressed everyone with his ability to generate pace off a quick-arm action, the skill to bowl yorkers at will, something which you rarely find in Indian fast bowlers.

It isn't easy to keep your calm as a bowler when the likes of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli are firing on all cylinders, but on Wednesday night, the Lions' seamer kept his cool to fire in a Yorker which trapped the West Indian, who looked good for yet another IPL hundred at that stage, plumb in front of his stumps on 77. By scalping the big fish, Thampi ended his rather long wait for his maiden IPL wicket, which lasted till his fourth game.

Naturally, it's a prize that he cherishes. "It was the best feeling of my life. It was my first wicket in the IPL. I got the big man's wicket and I'm very happy to get him out," beamed the Kochi lad.

Letting out the secret of his ability to fire the base of the stumps on a regular basis, the 23-year-old said: "I got my yorkers from tennis ball cricket. When I came for the camp, I kept on practicing it in the nets with my coaches and they motivated me to keep doing that."

After joining the Gujarat Lions, who bought him in this year’s IPL auction for Rs 85 lakhs, Thampi has developed a good 'slower' delivery, coming off the back of the arm, too, which helps him to keep the batsmen guessing. "I it developed at the Gujarat Lions camp. My coaches showed me some different types of slower ones and I am just doing that. With God's grace, it came nicely," he said.

Refreshingly, the youngster enjoys the challenge of bowling in the pressure-cooker environment of the IPL, where the crowds are egging the batsmen to hit boundaries. "It has given me enjoyment. The main thing is that I have to enjoy my bowling. Nowadays, I am bowling well and I just keep doing that. I actually allow the pressure to bowl like that. I know that the batsmen can hit me anytime, but I can also build the pressure that time. I enjoy that pressure," he said.

Thampi is a product of the MRF Pace Foundation, where he's trained for the last two years under Australian pace bowling great Glenn McGrath. "It (stint with MRF) was fantastic. I got very good tips from McGrath. He told me that I've natural pace and I shouldn’t compromise over it," revealed the Kochi man.

Thampi impressed the IPL talent scouts after picking eight wickets in five matches @economy rate of 6.22 for Kerala in the inter-state domestic T20s in January. Bowling in the IPL, of course, is a much tougher prospect. "In the domestic tournaments, the batsmen won’t come hard at us (bowlers). They take time to hit. But here (in the IPL) I've felt that the batsmen can hit the first ball as well. They can middle it nicely from the very first ball," Thampi observed.