Back in 2015, Akash Deep lost both his father and elder brother in the space of just six months. The youngster had no clue about where his life was headed back then and the passing away of two elders in the house left him with no option but to swim in the deep end and do something for the family.
There were no fancy dreams back then and the then-teenager stuck to his first love – playing cricket. When he took the first steps in what has been a very tough journey, Akash had nothing to lose and he aptly summed it with a very emotional one-liner at the post-day press conference.
“Mere paas khone ko kuch nahi tha aur paane ko bahut kuch tha (I had nothing to lose but a lot to gain),” said a very emotional Akash.
It was difficult for the 27-year-old to not get emotional on this memorable day and he was very expressive while sharing his feelings. Making his debut not far away from his village and the state (read Bengal) which gave him everything made it all the more special.
“Like any kid who plays cricket, it was my dream also to play Test cricket for India. I got my Test cap midway between the place I belong to and the place I play cricket for. It was very emotional but I also felt that there was a responsibility on my shoulders to do something for the team,” said Akash.
In very little time Akash forgot the emotions and was down to business with the new ball where he made an instant impact. The entire stadium, including his mother, was cheering for the debutant but he was remembering his late father and dedicated the performance to him.
“I want to dedicate this performance to my father. He wanted his son to do something in his life but I couldn’t do anything while he was alive. So this is for him,” said Akash.
Called up to the squad for the last three Tests after an impressive show for India A, Akash, to the surprise of many, was fast-tracked into the Playing XI for the fourth Test. There was the option of Mukesh Kumar but the Indian think-tank went ahead with the extra pace of Akash and just asked him “to keep it simple”.
“They (team management) asked me to keep it simple. Do what you have been doing. It helped me because when you come to this level, you are confused about what you should do. They asked me to keep doing the same things that have brought me success and got me my debut,” revealed Akash.
The simple approach did wonders for the debutant as he picked three quick wickets with a very probing new-ball spell. In his second over, he disturbed Zak Crawley’s woodwork but the celebrations were interrupted by the no-ball siren. More than not getting the wicket, it was Crawley’s charge in the Mohammed Siraj over which made Akash feel bad.
“As an individual, I didn’t feel very bad because I knew that if I don’t get him out, then someone else in my team will. But when he hit Siraj for three fours and a six in the next over, I felt very bad. Because I didn’t want my team to be behind in the match because of me. So yeah, I was a bit tense because he scores his runs very quickly too,” said Akash.
While Siraj leaked runs from the other end, Akash found the right length and kept troubling batters with sharp seam movement. It wasn’t the pitch doing tricks but the change in angle which helped the youngster.
“When I was bowling with the new ball, he was trying to attack me on both sides of the wicket. When I was bowling closer to the stumps, there wasn’t much happening with the ball. It wasn’t even swinging even after 3 overs. So I tried to bowl from the corner of the crease and I got the shape where everything was seaming in. It wasn’t coming in off the crack but off the seam,” said Akash.
Comments
0 comment