“I feel proud to be a part of the national team at a young age,” says Akash Mishra of Hyderabad FC
In the last nine matches the Indian senior men’s team have played, Akash Mishra has not been on the pitch for only 12 minutes. Such has been his rise over the past few seasons that the 21-year-old has become India’s best option at left-back. Head coach Igor Stimac and his trust in him has played a big role in his ascent, according to Mishra.
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“I think it’s a huge factor and very important for a player, especially a youngster like me, in his career when the coach trusts him to get the job done. And when that happens, even an average player becomes a great one because that gives him confidence, and he keeps pushing himself to improve every day,” says Mishra.
Born in Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh, Mishra debuted as a 19-year-old for the Blue Tigers in March 2021 in a 1-1 draw against Oman in a friendly. He is still the youngest player in the current camp in Bhubaneswar for the Hero Intercontinental Cup and the subsequent SAFF Championship in Bengaluru. With what Mishra has achieved at a young age, it’s easy to get carried away, but he is well aware that there’s a long way to go in his career. And for his career to be fruitful, his feet have to be on the ground.
“I feel proud to be a part of the national team at a young age. I hope that my parents and my coaches are proud as well and happy to see me succeed. But at the moment, the only thing on my mind is to keep improving myself, and because I’m young, I get to learn a lot from the senior players on and off the field. It’s also important to know how to carry yourself off the pitch as a professional footballer,” Mishra says.
“I feel proud to be a part of the national team at a young age. I hope that my parents and my coaches are proud as well and happy to see me succeed. But at the moment, the only thing on my mind is to keep improving myself, and because I’m young, I get to learn a lot from the senior players on and off the field. It’s also important to know how to carry yourself off the pitch as a professional footballer,” Mishra says.“In the national camp, you have the best players from every club in the country, and each player has some qualities which others don’t. There are a lot of aspects of the game I still have to grasp, and if I keep learning something or the other from every player, it will help me in my game. My sole focus right now is improving myself in every training session,” he adds.
Mishra won the Hero ISL title with Hyderabad FC in 2021-22 and also won the Hero Tri-Nation in Imphal earlier this year. The youngster is now keen to add to his tally a first SAFF Championship title as he couldn’t participate in the 2021 edition which India won in Maldives.
