BENGALURU: A 23-year-old towering pacer on his maiden tour of the subcontinent, Will O'Rourke has made the best use of the conditions.
As his team stands on the cusp of a long-awaited victory, the seamer is in no mood to write off the home team yet.
"We've got a world-class team going up against us. I wouldn't say it's an easy win from here. But we've got to be confident going out there. Hope fully, for our sake, the rain stays away and we get a chance to have a crack at it," said the New Zealander, who made his Test debut at home earlier this year.
O'Rourke, who denied Rishabh Pant a well-deserved century, was all praise for the defiant duo of Pant and Sarfaraz Khan. "I've been pretty hot and cold with the ball. Pant and Sarfaraz batted very well for a long time until the second new ball started doing a little bit for us," he pointed out.
O'Rourke troubled the Indian batters with his height and seam and got Virat Kohli in the first innings and KL Rahul on both occasions. He marked out Kohli's wicket as a special one.
"It's pretty special getting someone so great, one of the greats of our game, out like that. You grow up watching those guys. So, to come here and take that wicket, it's probably right up there," said O'Rourke, who picked up a match haul of eight wickets, including a fifer, against Sri Lanka in Galle.
