'I'm still trying to learn new things, slow balls… try to get that on my yorker ball and so there are always things to improve on.'
Mark Wood already possesses the ability to intimidate batsmen with his express pace, but the England speedster revealed on Wednesday that he is working on developing a slow yorker that could be handy when the T20 World Cup action unfolds on Indian pitches later this year.
Wood said he realised the importance of having a slower delivery while competing on Indian pitches when he played alongside India pacer Shardul Thakur for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.
With just seven months to go for the T20 World Cup in India, Woods is making a conscious effort to add ammunition to his arsenal.
"Watching their bowlers... I played with Shradul Thakur at Chennai (Super Kings). And he's got a new slower ball. So just looking at that and how well that's worked here, it's something that I'm trying to adapt into my game," Wood told the British media in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
"My role has been pretty clear, the plans that I have been trying to do. Behind the scenes, I'm still trying to learn new things, slow balls… try to get that on my yorker ball and so there are always things to improve on."
"These are the conditions we're gonna come up against in the World Cup, so it's trying to get the right skills in place to be able to adapt on any given surface or the type of pitches we might come across here," he explained.
The England pacer, who did not feature in the Test series, troubled the Indian top order in the third T20I in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, clocking 140-kph-plus consistently. But he still does not feel that his spot in the playing eleven is guaranteed.
"I played well in a couple of games but, you know, last summer, I played well against Australia and then I missed out in South Africa. We have got many good bowlers that I don't feel like my place is a given."
Wood said the series gives him a chance to cement his place for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
"It gives me a chance to prove myself in this series and ultimately we all want to be part of that group that plays in the World Cup and hopefully wins the World Cup for England.
"We've got plenty of back-ups; people go in and out of form, injuries will come and go, so it's important that, as a group, no one takes a sport for granted."
Wood, however, said it gives him immense confidence that England skipper Eoin Morgan has identified him as a member of their core group.
"Eoin is a great leader, someone when I don't play he tells in a straightway why I'm not playing and what he wants me to improve on. And when I am playing he's very clear about my role; it's very clear what he's after for me in the game terms of plans and things.
"So it gives me a lot of confidence that he sees me that way. We both get on well and know each other well enough to have that relationship. I'm delighted that he feels that way but that doesn't, by any means, mean that I'm a given in the team. So gotta keep working hard off-the-field as well as on-the-field, keep delivering."
Asked whether he feels frustrated of being not recognised as an entity on his own and is constantly compared to his new-ball partner Jofra Archer, he said it brings the best out of him.
"It doesn't bother us in terms of being competitors; it's the same question all the time, isn't it? That's Jofra and I try and go faster than each other. Now we've played together so much that we just enjoy it together.
"It brings the best out of me, as it does I'm sure to him. We just concentrate on our own roles. It's great to be able to back that up together and put the pressure on the opposition."
