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Following his side's win in the Duleep Trophy game, India A pacer, Akash Deep opened up on an advice from pace veteran Mohammed Shami which helped him deliver two great spells in the match, including a five-wicket haul.
A masterclass century by Musheer Khan and a fine all-round performance by Navdeep Saini helped India B secure a 76-run win over India A at Bengaluru on Sunday in the first round of the Duleep Trophy. Though India A lost, Akash gave his opponents a massive scare with bowling spells of 4/60 and 5/56 respectively. Shami and Akash Deep represent Bengal in domestic cricket. He has learnt a lot about setting up dismissals from Shami and to how to have batters guessing which way the ball will move from the same spot. Speaking about his favourite wicket and learnings from his illustrated Bengal teammate, Akash said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "The balls I bowled to Nitish Reddy [in the first innings] and Washington Sundar [in the second innings]. I had been bowling a lot to him [Washington] from around the wicket in the nets. He has been batting a lot against me and had got used to it. So I wanted to do something that I had not done against him before." "When you bowl to a left-hander from around the wicket, the ball moves naturally towards the shine. I spoke to him [Shami] about how to get the ball to come back in [with the angle]. I have seen him do that." "He advised me not to focus too much on bringing it in. He said it will automatically come over time and when it does, it will become a wicket-taking ball. Because if it keeps going out and then you are able to bring it back in with the shine, it is tough for batsmen. But he has cautioned me against trying it a lot. But as a bowler, if you are able to do it, then batters will have a tendency to chase balls away as well," he concluded. During this game, Akash's ability to bowl long spells even while pitch did not offer help and to generate lateral movement both ways stood out. Across both innings, Akash delivered 41 overs, easily the most among all bowlers. He credited this hardwork at the crease to the conditioning work done at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) over past month. Akash said that his last proper match before this was his Test debut in March and he got to play just one match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). "As a fast bowler, it is difficult to come back [after such a long stretch]. I was at the NCA for a month, I played a lot of practice games, keeping in mind the kind of situations we will face in a real match, so that the muscle memory is used to the rigours of a first-class match," he added. Akash said that he thinks of every match of his as his last and he does not think far ahead about things like being selected for Team India, with a 10-Test long season ahead. "I think of every match as my last match. I do not think too far ahead. What happens [the selection] is not in my hands. I am here in the present, thinking about my process. I have now finished a match, tomorrow is a rest day, so how can I recover well? I think more about those things. I am only thinking in the present," he added. He also delved deep into his mindset of never being satisfied and staying hungry, which enables a player to keep learning. "Getting wickets and the final result is different. The ball that I wanted to bowl, how much of it was I able to execute properly? What could I have improved? That is what I was thinking about all the time," he concluded. Brief Scores: India B: 321 (Musheer Khan 181, Navdeep Saini 56, Akash Deep 4/60) and 184 (Rishabh Pant 61, Sarfaraz Khan 46, Akash Deep 5/56) beat India A: 231 (KL Rahul 37, Mayank Agarwal 36, Navdeep Saini 3/60) and 198 (KL Rahul 57, Akash Deep 43, Yash Dayal 3/50) by 76 runs. (ANI)
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