Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna has always been thrilled with speed. And the Karnataka bowler has now revealed his obsession with MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi as the reason behind his love for speed. 

In an interview on the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) website, the 25-year-old speedster confessed his love for cycling as a child and that he based many of his moves after the Italian racer. 

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“I used to cycle a lot because our road was a dead end. So, I used to come down the lane. I used to watch a lot of Valentino Rossi back then, so I had followed him a lot,” he said.

“Maybe that’s where the speed factor came in because I was, you know, seeing him go so fast. It’s so much of speed. So that’s where my liking for speed came into existence.”

Rossi is a living legend in the world of motorcyle racing and has not intentions of hanging up his boots at the age of 42. He has won nine Grand Prix World Championships, including seven in the premier class.

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The Italian, riding for Petronas Yamaha SRT team, will start the 2021 Qatar GP fourth on the grid. 

Krishna enjoyed a dream debut for India in the ongoing ODI series against England, returning with figures of 4/54 from 10-overs – the best for an Indian bowler on debut. He followed it up with a 2/58 spell in the second ODI, where he was the only bowler to return with an economy of less than six per over. 

The three-match series is tied at 1-1 with the third and final ODI underway at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.