Perseverant and ambitious, Karnataka's Koushik V is doing it steady

It took Karnataka's fourth match of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season for Koushik V to get into the playing XI. But that never fazed the tall swing bowler, who epitomizes the quality of perseverance and biding one's time.

Nothing drives home this fact more than his patient and steady rise through the system. An engineering graduate who was placed in the corporate domain, Koushik always held cricket close to his heart. His journey, however, was different from the conventional route, given that balancing academics and cricket was a key component of it.

Cut to the present day, and Koushik has snared 17 wickets already in just three outings in the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 at 13.17 apiece. The 30-year-old seamer has played a pivotal role in Karnataka sitting cozy at the top of Group C and securing a berth in the quarterfinals with a game to spare.

There is patience and calm aplenty in Koushik's voice. In many ways, it's a reflection of the hard work he has had to put in to break in as a mainstay of a side that has been a giant in domestic cricket boasting a proud history of fast bowlers.

The season has been a stupendous one for Koushik, with him having scalped 18 wickets in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022-23 from just nine outings. The metric that stood out like a glittering pearl, though, was a scarcely believable economy rate of 2.70.

How was he able to manage that in 2022? What about the ongoing season, which has given him plenty to cheer about as he continues to make the ball talk? Koushik recently detailed this and so much more in an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda.

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Excerpts from Koushik V's exclusive chat with Sportskeeda

Q. You’ve made a fine start to the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. How does it feel?

Koushik V: After doing so well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, I thought I will get a chance from the opening game itself. But Ronit (More), Vidwath (Kaverappa) and Vyshak (Vijaykumar) had done well in the last Ranji Trophy game so I was waiting for my chance. Vidwath and Vyshak have been bowling really well this season. Ronit was bowling really well too, before he got injured. They have been picking up so many wickets. My role has been to support them or pick up wickets whenever I’m doing well. That has been my role so far.

Q. Many congratulations on a personally stupendous Vijay Hazare Trophy. What was your feeling like, having returned consistent performances one after another in the tournament?

Koushik V: When I spoke to my coaches, the new coach this time - PV Shashikanth sir, who has come back after 3-4 years - he has defined my role very openly, how he wants me to perform and what is my role in the team. Ronit being the seniormost alongside me, I am the second-most senior bowler here, I had to don a different role this time - to keep it tight and support the bowlers from the other end who have done exceedingly well this time.

My role was to keep it tight and I felt the Kolkata pitches aided our kind of bowling. Vidwath is mainly a swing bowler who has nippy bounce off the wicket. I was helping him with keeping it tight from the other end and I think I did well in that kind of role.

Q. An economy rate of 2.70 in white-ball cricket is almost unheard of in today’s era. Yet you managed that in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. That was quite something - what would you put it down to?

Koushik V: I’m that kind of a bowler who always keeps it tight with very tight lengths and lines. I don’t have that much pace so my bowling relies on keeping it tight and calm. That is my go-to bowling (strategy) every time. I wouldn’t say all the pitches were very helpful but it suited my kind of bowling. I was getting a little extra bounce and nip off the wicket, which is what I am known for around the Karnataka cricket circuit. I am not known for pace here; I have always been known to keep it tight and making it happen from the kind of wickets we have.

Q. You were Karnataka’s go-to weapon with the new ball and you responded by breaking games open in the powerplay. Yet I’m sure you don’t want to be pigeonholed as a new-ball option only right?

Koushik V: Yes, I am working towards that because most good bowlers bowl well with the new ball. But I want to change that and my captain should come to me with the old ball as well. That is what I am looking forward to. The Ranji Trophy is one format where you can work towards that. It’s a longer format; I will get to bowl with the older ball as well.

Q. Sustaining your form in a different format, with the red ball and to bowl longer spells, might come with its own set of challenges. Have you been trying anything different from a preparation point of view for the same?

Koushik V: It’s a very long format. I bowled 26 overs, Vidwath 28 and Vyshak 23 (against Chattisgarh). It is a different format and it also depends on the kind of wicket you’re playing in. The wicket we’re playing on now is flat-ish, it’s not aiding the fast- bowlers much but we’re bending our back. The only preparation change is we have to keep ourselves fit. As this is a two-innings game, we have to recover well and sleep well. The recovery part is very important in the four-day format because we have to come back and pick up 10 more wickets in the game.

Else, we will end up with only 3 points or 1 point as such. If we have to qualify, we should easily have more than 25 points in our kitty. So at least three or four outright wins will help us qualify for the knockout phase, which is what we are looking for. So recovery plays a very important part along with the strengthening sessions. Just to mention our trainer’s name, KC Avinash has been working very hard with us and the guys who are not playing as well. Our trainer has been working very hard with us to keep us fit and recover well before the match.

Q. Any particular fitness regime you focus on since you’re a fast bowler and workload management becomes a key aspect?

Koushik V: It all depends on what our trainer gives. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. We have a chart where we do our fitness training test before the camp starts. There he decodes all our strengths and weaknesses. Based on that, he prepares our programs throughout the season. He monitors our workload and that’s how the whole season’s program will be decided by our trainer. We are under him and all our guidance will be given by him.

Q. When Karnataka achieved the double-treble in 2013-14 and 2014-15, it was largely centered around the experienced fast-bowling unit. In recent years, though, there has been a bit of a transition. How much do you relish the responsibility of leading the way with Ronit More and Vidwath Kaverappa?

Koushik V: When Karnataka won the double-treble, I think Vinay (Kumar) anna had played 10 years of Ranji Trophy, (Abhimanyu) Mithun anna had played 5-6 years, (Sreenath) Aravind anna was also experienced with the Ranji Trophy format. In our bowling unit, only Ronit has played more than 25 matches if you compare that way. Me, Vyshak and Vidwath have hardly played 15 games between the three of us. So it’s a learning experience again, we are coping up with the Ranji format.

My last game was in 2019. After that I sat out for 8-9 matches and I’m playing now. So even though I am not very experienced with the Ranji format, being with the team has given me a lot of experience on how to bowl, having seen people bowl from the outside. Youngsters like Vidwath and Vyshak bring a lot of energy to the team. With the experience of Ronit and I, who has not played much but am still part of the circuit, we only have to take the team forward and get the glory days back.

Bowlers are the only weapons who can get us 20 wickets and get outright results. That’s when the team wins and lifts the cup. The spin department deserves a lot of credit, too. The likes of K Gowtham, Shubhang Hedge and Shreyas Gopal have made immense contributions to the team.

Q. Your story from a background in engineering to bursting into competitive cricket is a heartwarming one that fans would certainly look up to. How satisfying has it been to be able to pursue your lifelong dream?

Koushik V: I was very good with studies, so at home, they preferred me to have a degree first. It’s not that I was not playing cricket during my engineering days. I was playing the Bangalore league but most of my matches used to clash with my exams. So I could not play all the matches and have wickets in my kitty to get selected for the zonals. That’s how I missed on being selected in the zonals. Once my engineering finished, that’s when I got a break with zonals, KPL and stuff like that to get into the senior team. So it’s been very satisfying because cricket was always there in my mind. Even when I was working in the corporate field, I used to play a lot of games for the Amazon corporate team.

But it has never faded away like getting into a job, getting lazy and being a couch potato in the corporate field. It was always at the back of my mind that I had to get a job through the sports quota and get into professional cricket very early. I’m glad that within a year and a half I got a job at Central Excise and Customs through sports quota. I’ve been there for 5-6 years, I’ve been playing for them and my professional cricket took a turn after getting recruited there so I’m very thankful for that. That’s when a different chapter of my cricket started.

Q. It had to stem from a lot of inner will and determination, but you must have had your struggles along the way too. Who all have been part of your biggest support system?

Koushik V: My brother, my wife to whom I got married recently, and my parents have been my biggest supports. I was glad that my parents never pressurized me for anything. They never asked me, "What do you want to do in the future?" It was just, "If you want to do something, go there and enjoy it."' - that was the saying at home. I never used to bother so much about what was there for me in the future. I was just enjoying my cricket. It didn’t matter if it was tennis ball cricket, corporate cricket or league cricket. It was just a small thought that I wanted to enjoy being on the field. It didn’t matter if I was playing in the XI or not, the thing that mattered to me was being there, not working somewhere else or being in front of a desktop and working for 9-10 hours. The only happiness I was getting was being there on the field with guys who have equal passion for this game.

Q. Koushik V has broken the gate and transitioned into the Karnataka team as one of its mainstays. I’m sure he must be having even greater honors and ambitions lined up, right?

Koushik V: Of course. It’s a dream for all the cricketers to climb up. Not just in cricket, but probably in any field, people with higher ambitions would like to go up. It’s the same case with me - probably I was a little closer to get picked in the IPL but that didn’t happen. It’s okay, it happens to all the good cricketers. The only thing that is there in my hand is to perform, the selection is not in my hand. I have to get back to my basics and what I’ve been doing well. It’s the only thing that is there in my mind, just to go there and keep playing. Whatever is in my hand is what I can do.

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Focusing on the present and not thinking too far ahead, Koushik is living it 'Carpe Diem' style and his rise continues to remain meteoric. Clearly, new peaks await Koushik as he continues to seamlessly scale them in his own unassuming manner.