One of India’s brightest young talents, Anirudh Thapa enjoyed a brilliant campaign for club and country over the past year, winning the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 title with Chennaiyin FC before playing an integral part for India at the Hero Intercontinental Cup. The 20-year-old will be raring to go when Chennaiyin visit the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday to take on last year’s finalist Bengaluru FC for their season opener.

Ahead of the new season, the gifted midfielder spoke exclusively to indiansuperleague.com on his expectations for the season ahead as well the people that have had the biggest impact on his development to date. Here are the excerpts:

On the pre-season preparations and his excitement to get back on the pitch.

Obviously, I’m excited to get back on the pitch. As for the pre-season, I was not with the team for long, but when I was there I was excited. New players and new staff. It was great being on the pitch, back with the team, back with the family. So I’m very excited for the new season. 

On handling the pressure of expectations this season, having won the Emerging player of the year in 2017-18.

I don’t think there is any pressure because people have expectations. I’ll just go in there, play my game and put my efforts. I will give my best there. Obviously, I want to win more awards and I hope this year I give my best too.

Few words on head coach John Gregory.

His first season was great, we won the league and lifted the title. It was a great season for me. He gave me chances to play. As a young player, I wanted matches and he gave me, he trusted me and that was the main thing. He started me off the bench, that gave me a little bit of confidence and in a few matches, I started also. So with me, one of the important things he did was giving me the opportunity to play in such a big league.

Few words on the Chennaiyin fans.

They are the 12th man of Chennai and obviously, they mean a lot to us because whenever they are in the ground, it's like extra motivation to us. Whenever they're chanting, they're shouting our names. It's like they're giving us the motivation to put more efforts on the field and obviously we play for them. So, it's a great feeling to have.