Akash Deep turned emotional as he hugged his mother at the JSCA cricket stadium in Ranchi on Friday morning after receiving his Test cap from former captain and head coach, Rahul Dravid. Only a few weeks back, he garnered attention for his heroics in the tour game against England Lions in Ahmedabad, picking up 11 wickets in the last two fixtures. As the BCCI announced the squad for the last three Tests against England, the pacer was fast-tracked into the Indian side.
30 First-class games and 104 wickets later, it was February 23 when he became the 312th player to represent India in Test cricket. As legendary Sunil Gavaskar said on air, a batter wishes for runs and a bowler for wickets on international debut. And for Akash, success came a bit early as he rattled the England top order right within 45 minutes of the commencement of the 4th Test.
A no-ball denied him his maiden Test wicket but he was quick to bounce back and dismissed the likes of Ben Duckett (11), Zak Crawley (42) and Ollie Pope (0) to send the fans into a frenzy. Eventually, the wicket turned slower and the pacers had to toil hard to reap success, the way Deep set the tone of the Ranchi Test was commendable.
Speaking with the broadcasters after the stumps on Day 1, Deep spoke at length about his experience of playing a Test match for India.
“I wasn’t nervous, had spoken with my coaches, so I wasn’t tense ahead of the game. I don’t know how it happened, but I used to take every game as my last game and tried my best,” Deep said.
The 27-year-old gave a special mention to Jasprit Burmah, who has been rested for this game, revealing the important piece of advice received about bowling in the international circuit.
“[Jasprit] Bumrah bhai advised me to drag the length back slightly as he said, international match mein batter khud ball ko chase karega (the batters would chase the ball themselves. That’s exactly what I did,” Deep revealed.
Speaking of the no-ball in which he had castled Zak Crawley, he said. “I felt bad about it, not because I overstepped. But I was just hoping that the team doesn’t lose because of that. They were even batting well after that but luckily, I could come back in time and get them out.”
“There was a bit of help early on, but the ball became soft and the wicket was slow as well. We just tried to be as tight as possible and bowl in the right areas,” Deep added while giving his insights about the pitch.
On the other hand, Joe Root hit an unbeaten 106 to lead England’s recovery from early trouble. The hosts, who are fighting to stay alive at 2-1 down in the five-match series, reached stumps at 302-7 after electing to bat first in Ranchi.
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