Bengal pacer Akash Deep has had an impressive start to his Test career during the fourth Test against England on Friday, February 23 at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi. He pulled off a brilliant performance on the first day of the test, ratting the England top-order.
Akash Deep was rewarded a Test debut cap for his brilliant performance in domestic cricket. He was handed the cap by India head coach Rahul Dravid before the start of the fourth Test match. He replaced Jasprit Bumrah, who has been rested for the fourth test, after outstanding performance in the previous matches.
The Bengal pacer was outstanding on his debut. He dismissed the England top three, consisting of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley in the first session of the test. He finished the day with three wickets for seventy runs, at an economy rate of 4.1. Speaking at the end of the first day’s play, Akash Deep said,
“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. Bumrah bahi advised me to drag the length back slightly (in international cricket), that’s exactly what I did.”
Akash Deep on Zak Crawley’s dismissal off no-ball
Akash Deep had an interesting start to his test career during the Ranchi test as he dismissed Zak Crawley off a no-ball. The pacer bowled Zak Crawley with a length delivery which nipped back into the batter. It missed the inside edge of the bat and went on to send the off-stump cartwheeling. However, the celebrations were shortlived, as it was a no-ball. Akash finally dismissed Crawley for 42 runs with another brilliant delivery.
“I felt bad (on the no-ball), I was just hoping that the team doesn’t lose because of that (since Crawley was batting well),” said Akash Deep.
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