With 80 overs of play possible after rain delayed the start of day five’s play at Edgbaston by an hour and 40 minutes, anticipation about the end result was at its high amongst fans. Despite England’s win being far-fetched, the hosts still held onto a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak situation – an unlikely draw. However, their resolve for a drawn result was shattered by a quiet yet persistent force named Akash Deep, who stood up to be the unlikely hero of an overseas Test win for India. Akash, stepping into the playing eleven at Edgbaston for a rested Jasprit Bumrah, bowled a spell that not only decimated England’s batting order but also lit up Indian cricket.
With figures of 10-187 – his maiden ten-wicket haul in just his eighth Test, including a fiery 6-99 in the fourth innings, Akash helped India seal a thumping series-levelling 336-run win – the first-ever Test match victory by an Asian side at Edgbaston.
But for those who have witnessed Akash’s cricketing journey, particularly with Bengal, his brilliant display at Edgbaston was not entirely unexpected – it fulfilled the promise they saw in the fast bowler when he played in Bengal’s cricketing ecosystem.
“All of us who have seen him bowl are not surprised by his performance at Edgbaston. I mean, I’m happy, but I’m not surprised really. I’m not saying that he has done something which he’s never done before because we’ve seen him do well on a good batting wicket, and get good Test batters out often.
“In fact I’m happy that he’s done it at a higher level, but I’m not surprised if that’s the case as I would expect him to bowl like this. I’ve seen him and Mukesh (Kumar, India pacer) do this to other teams when our fabulous fast bowling attack of him, Mukesh and Ishan Porel played together and (Ashoke) Dinda was present before,” Joydeep Mukherjee, who spotted Akash as director of cricket operations at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), told IANS in an exclusive conversation.
Akash’s performance also did not come as a surprise to Shreevats Goswami, the former Bengal wicketkeeper, who saw the fast bowler’s exceptional talent during a 2019 CAB indoor net session.
“I immediately understood that this guy is a great find by God’s grace and a lambi race ka ghoda (one for the long haul). Then he got picked up for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy games in Indore and played there really well by bowling quick.
“I am very happy because I expected this, to be honest. It was about time this would happen because I have seen him from very close quarters. Having kept up against his bowling, I am not surprised at all with his Edgbaston performances. When the chips are down, he is somebody who will be relentless with his line and length even when there is no assist from the pitch,” Goswami said in an exclusive conversation with IANS.
One of the deliveries from Akash which still has the cricketing world talking is him totally bamboozling Joe Root with a nip-backer coming from wide of the crease which nipped away late to go past his outside edge and hit top of off-stump.
Mukherjee stated the way Akash dismissed Root was one of the crucial learnings he got from being mentored by Waqar Younis and Ranadeb Bose, the current national junior selector, under CAB’s Vision 2020 initiative – where his training, nutrition and residential needs were taken care of after being picked from second division cricket circuit.