RANCHI: Akash Deep was leaping in the air, shouting and celebrating. In his second over, the 27-year-old pacer had castled Zak Crawley. An inswinger had sent the off-stump cartwheeling. The excitement, though, was short-lived.
Just when Crawley started walking, the no-ball siren went off. The joy had been removed because of an unforced error.
But he was not flustered. For somebody who has been within handshaking distance of tragedies, he could deal with a momentary heartbreak.
Hailing from Sasaram in Bihar, the youngster didn’t know what cricket was till the 2007 T20 World Cup. They had to crowdfund to rent a generator to watch the India v. Pakistan final in the village. As MS Dhoni held aloft the title, a dream, however unlikely, took root.
Over the next eight years so, he featured in a lot of tennis ball tournaments. But something changed in 2015. After his dad and elder brother passed away, Deep realised he had to shoulder the responsibilities of the family.
In 2016, he started playing leather ball cricket. First, he moved to Durgapur to play first division league. Later, he found a support system thanks to coaches like Ranadeb Bose.
As someone skiddy and having the ability to generate pace off the pitch to surprise the batters, he made his U23 debut in 2018-19. List-A and Ranji debuts followed the year after. Just when it seemed like he was up and running, a stress fracture set him back. Once he made his way back to the field, he was drafted by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Even as he lived his dream of playing in the IPL, playing Test cricket for India was his aim as he would admit after the debut on Friday.
Understandably, the emotions were running high when he got his India cap — No. 313 — from head coach Rahul Dravid before his mother and family members. "When I had lost my father and brother in the same year, I wanted to do something in my life," he told the media after the day's play. "I left my home to play cricket and Bengal supported me. I got a good environment to flourish there. I played in the Ranji Trophy for them and I performed. My family has a big role to play in my success because when you lose two family members in a year, you don’t have much to lose but only to gain."
That sort of perspective is what helped him forget about the no-ball.
Although he felt bad when the England opener took on Siraj, Deep did not take long to run to leave his mark. First, he went wide of the crease and took the ball away from Duckett, inducing the outside edge. That was his first Test wicket. Two balls later, he did the same to Ollie Pope, who was trapped on the pads (over-turned on DRS). In his next over, another nip-backer in that 7m mark he had kept hammering away in the first hour, breached through Crawley's defences before kissing the off-bail.
From that no ball in his second over to having taken three wickets before the end of his sixth, he was living his dream. “When I was bowling closer to the stumps, there wasn’t much happening with the ball. It wasn’t 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,” he explained.
In the context of the match, his performance was crucial because, despite looking threatening and troubling, Mohammed Siraj did not have much luck early on. And once the pitch eased out, Ben Foakes and Joe Root handled the spinners with patience.
Shami resemblance
Watching Deep in full flow, another thought struck; not just in the press box but throughout the stadium. The uncanny resemblance between him and Mohammed Shami.
From the run-up to the loading point, the follow-through, appeal and celebrations — perhaps the only difference was the release and wrist position — it seemed like Shami had turned up and repeated what he did to South Africa at this venue in 2019.
When he was asked whether he had watched Shami as a kid, a candid reply was a peek into his formative years.
“I didn’t even know cricket as a kid," he said. "The place I come from, there was no cricket. From 2007 onwards, I used to play tennis-ball cricket. I started knowing cricket after 2016 when I left my home. So from that time onwards, I started watching and following the likes of Shami bhai and Kagiso Rabada,” he said.
Two months ago, he was nowhere near an India call-up. He was behind the likes Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar apart from Jasprit Bumrah, Siraj and Shami.
But with Prasidh and Shami injured, Bumrah managing his workload, Avesh not considered and Mukesh going for plenty in Visakhapatnam, an opportunity presented itself.
The 27-year-old summed up his journey like no one else could: “Mere paas khone ko kuch nahi tha aur paane ko sab kuch tha (I did not have anything to lose, and had everything to gain)."
Safe to say, he has gained something precious already: India Test cap No. 313.
