India unearthed a fresh pace talent in debutant Akash Deep as the 27-year-old Bengal pacer, who originally hails from Bihar, picked up three wickets in his 17 overs, marking yet another confident debut for the home side in the ongoing series.
He made life miserable for England’s top-order with the new ball, grabbing the top-three in 10 balls as the visitors lost half of their side in the first session.
Bowling one of the finest maiden spells in a Test debut — 7-0-24-3 — Akash Deep dismissed Ben Duckett (11), Ollie Pope (0) and Zak Crawley (42) in 10 deliveries while bowling from the dressing room end.
After the end of the first day’s play, Akash Deep – was asked about comparisons between and his state and national senior teammate Mohammed Shami.
“In my childhood, I didn’t know about cricket. From where I come, there is no cricket. I was playing tennis cricket till 2007. In 2016, when I left from home, I started following Shami bhai. I watch him and Rabada closely,” said Akash Deep.
The pacer, who came through the ranks playing domestic cricket in Bengal, hit the deck hard in a sensational display during the first hour’s play. He, however, had to wait a bit for his maiden Test wicket.
In his second over of the day, he uprooted Crawley’s off-stump that cartwheeled a couple of metres but the celebration was short-lived as he was found guilty of overstepping.
Akash Deep seized the momentum in an eventful 10th over that went on and on with two wickets and two reviews. One of the reviews yielded a wicket, that of Duckett.
Akash Deep tempted the batter to come on his front foot as the ball nipped away taking a feather edge off the left-hander’s blade.
The pacer had wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel to thank for his second wicket in the space of three balls as the Indian keeper convinced Rohit to take a review.
Pope stepped out to Akash Deep only to be beaten on the off-stump line and was hit on the knee roll. He was given out on review.
In the next over, Akash Deep returned to finally take the wicket of Crawley in an identical manner by hitting the top of the off-stump for a glorious first spell on debut.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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