Hyderabad: India midfielder Anirudh Thapa feels playing friendly matches against senior players helped him mature faster as a player. The 22-year-old feels that it was because of the number of matches that he got to play against quality opponents while he was at the Academy, that he has now become a regular feature in the heart of the Blue Tigers midfield.
"I feel blessed to have trained under someone like Gautam (Ghosh) sir during my AIFF Academy days," said Thapa during a live chat on AIFF TV.
The midfielder further talked about how matches were arranged every week at the Kalyani Stadium, where the AIFF Academy boys trained. While these were essentially friendly matches, the boys used to play against senior teams, most of whom were regulars in senior leagues, he said.