If you get satisfied as cricketer, you'll never learn anything: India pacer Akash Deep

A nine-wicket match haul usually leaves a bowler on cloud nine, but for India pacer Akash Deep it’s a mere reminder of the areas he needs to improve upon ahead of a hectic season.

Akash produced a wonderful effort for India A against India B in the just-concluded Duleep Trophy first round match, returning with figures of 4 for 60 and 5 for 56 here.

“If you get satisfied as a cricketer, you will never learn anything. As long as I have the hunger for learning, I can never be satisfied,” Akash told reporters after the match on Sunday.

“Wickets and results are two different things; sometimes you will get the result, sometimes not. But, the most important thing is the process…like while bowling, which are the areas that can still be improved upon,” he added.

Akash, who made his Test debut against England at Ranchi earlier this year, returned to the red-ball format after a considerable gap, but the Bengal man said he was preparing in his own way for the season.

“After my India debut in Ranchi and the IPL , I did not play any competitive match. It's tough to play a game as a pacer after such a long gap, but I have been practicing since last month.

“We were playing the practice matches as actual games. So, we had that mindset to get our muscles used to that sort of bowling, and it helped me a lot,” he noted.

With India scheduled to play 10 Tests this season, Akash’s effort in Duleep Trophy has surely placed him high on the pecking order to support Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

However, Akash liked to live in the present rather than looking too far ahead.

“Every contest that I play, I consider it as my last. I don't think too far enough. All I have is the present with me.

The 27-year-old showed immense control on both incoming and outgoing deliveries here, and he delved into it.

“When I started my career, I was an in-swing bowler. But I hurt my shoulder around two to three years ago, and I could not bowl in swings anymore.

“It is tough to live with one variation as a bowler and I began looking for options. I switched to out-swingers. And once my shoulder was back to normal, I gained total control on both variations,” he elaborated.

The ball that moved away from middle-stump line to rattle the off-stump of Nitish Reddy in India A’s first innings underlined his mastery over the away-going delivery.

Akash also remembered how senior India teammate and fellow Bengal pacer Mohammed Shami helped him with the nuances of his craft.

“I do take input from him (Shami) as our actions are pretty much similar. I asked him 'how to move the ball out by bowling from around the wicket to a left-hander', to which he asked me not to try for it as it would happen naturally.

“It did happen to me naturally, which then became a wicket-taking delivery. It also creates confusion in the batters’ mind, as he is used to playing the ball generally outside,” he explained.

Despite Akash’s heroics, India A succumbed to India B by 76 runs. He admitted that the batters played some wrong shots and the bowlers did not have the best preparation in place.

“We (bowlers) did not have the right planning in place. We should have kept things tighter. Our plan (today) was to play until tea, as things would have become tough in the final session.

“But we played some wrong shots in a hurry, leading to a pressure situation for us,” he said.