Lucknow, May 15 (IANS) Lucknow Super Giants’ left-arm pacer Akash Singh said the note he took out during celebration of his three wickets in the IPL 2026 clash against Chennai Super Kings are the things which give him motivation to do well in the game.

Playing his first game of IPL 2026, Akash took out Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson and Urvil Patel by using the short ball well, though CSK posted 187/5 on board. “I know I express myself well and people tell me that too. But honestly, it’s about the environment you create around yourself. I spend time understanding how champions think and how champions work hard.

“My belief has always been simple – if your work ethic and mindset are strong, only then can you dominate. I think it motivates me. There’s no deeper story behind it. On that note I had written things like ‘Akki knows how to take wickets in T20 cricket’.

“It just motivates me during the game. Sometimes these things work, sometimes they don’t, but if something helps me stay motivated and helps me perform better, then I’m willing to do it. That’s what matters most to me,” said Akash in a mid-innings chat with the broadcasters.

The young pacer also said his approach was built on clarity and aggression with an aim to out-think the batters. “My mindset is always about getting big wickets because when you come to the IPL, you shouldn’t just come to play – you should come to dominate. That mindset is very important. If you don’t think like that, then in a league like this where batting is getting stronger every single day, you will always stay behind.

“You need to stay one step ahead skill-wise, but at the same time the mental side matters a lot to me. If you don’t dominate mentally in this game, you can’t move forward consistently. That’s why my approach is always to dominate and honestly the batter’s name doesn’t matter too much to me.

“I try to think like I’m bowling in single-wicket cricket where execution matters the most. In those situations, your body flows naturally and the ball goes exactly where you want it to. So I focus on execution and going after big wickets. Obviously getting big batters out gives a different kind of happiness and if you look at my IPL record, most of my wickets are big players because that’s always been my mindset.”

Asked on how happy he was with his spell, Akash said, “I was happy, but at the same time when you are not playing regularly in the IPL, you have to keep pushing yourself constantly. Throughout the season and even in the off-season, I kept working hard, practicing and focusing on whatever was in my control.

“Thankfully today the process I had been following worked. I was trying to bowl according to what the wicket needed and also according to the weaknesses of the batters. In the IPL you can’t keep playing games back-to-back with the exact same plans because teams study you very quickly.

“We knew from the previous game how they had dominated and where their weaknesses were, so my attempt was to combine my style with those areas and execute accordingly. That was the plan and thankfully it worked,” he concluded.

–IANS

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