Injury problems troubled Akash Deep a little bit during the later part of the recent England tour, though he had made his presence felt with a 10-wicket match haul in the Edgbaston Test earlier in the series. The pacer then had to miss the Duleep Trophy as well.
However, having had some rest over the last few weeks, Akash feels fit and will be resuming his bowling on Sunday at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. The Bengal quick believes he’s perfect fitness-wise and should be available for the upcoming home Tests against the West Indies in October.
“I will be resuming bowling tomorrow (Sunday). I’ve been playing continuously for six months, so the body also needs a break. There are no issues in terms of my fitness either. I’m fit.
“But then, selection (for the Windies Tests) isn’t in my control. That’s totally the selectors’ call,” Akash, a recipient of the Cricket Association of Bengal’s special award mainly for his performance in England, said at the state body’s annual awards programme at the Dhono Dhanyo auditorium on Saturday.
Soon after, Akash left for Bengaluru to be back at the CoE.
Talking about his workload, the 28-year-old categorically mentioned that it’s completely up to the doctors, physios and those in the strength and conditioning (S&C) department to decide the matches he should play and those he cannot. “The workload aspect is not in our hands. It depends on the S&C people, doctors and physios.
“They are the ones who manage. If they tell us, ‘You need to take rest and can’t play this match’, we have to listen. All the stuff there are followed in a process, and they are in their hands, not ours,” Akash explained.
Being an all-format player is certainly one of his goals now. “The focus is on being the best version of myself and improve further.
“If I do improve, I surely can play all formats of the game.”
Another young Bengal quick, Yudhajit Guha, who has represented India U-19, was a recipient of five CAB awards: best bowler (U-19), India U-19 one-day debut, and for being a part of the NCA U-19 specialists’ camp, elite U-19 camp and U-19 high performance camp.
