After toiling for years in domestic cricket for the Bengal team, Bihar’s Akash Deep finally got to make his Test debut in the fourth Test against England in Ranchi that started on Friday.
The 27-year-old fast bowler had huge shoes to fill as he was replacing Jasprit Bumrah in the XI with the senior fast bowler being rested due to workload management ahead of a heavy T20 season in the next few months.
But Akash Deep didn’t less the team and the fans miss Bumrah as he thundered at an impressive pace near 140 KPH and got the ball to move considerably off the pitch. He started off superbly by toppling Zak Crawley’s off-stump in only his second over but was denied that wicket because he had overstepped and it was called a no-ball.
That, though, was only a glimpse of what was to come. Akash Deep went around the wicket and bowled in the channel outside off-stump to take the outside edge of Ben Duckett, caught by Dhruv Jurel. Two balls later he claimed Ollie Pope’s wicket, but India needed DRS to overturn the on-field decision of not out.
Crawley, who was given a reprieve through a no ball earlier, raced his way to 42 runs in 41 balls with a flurry of boundaries, but Akash Deep was not done yet as he continued pegging on the good length and line. Soon, he had Crawley, too, once again hitting the top of the off-stump, this time it was a legal ball. His first spell on debut read 7-0-24-3.
Fans on Twitter lavished huge praise on Akash, who has had to suffer personal tragedy a few years ago when his father and brother passed away within a space of three months.
Twitter reactions as Akash Deep makes a brilliant Test debut:
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson