Akash Deep and his night’s watch for the ages as he leaves the Oval with a knock to remember coming in at 4.
Akash Deep joins nightwatch lore with Oval knock to remember.
At The Oval, Akash Deep had been requesting a lot of affection.
He wrapped his arm around leaving Ben Duckett on Friday after he was caught playing a reverse-scoop from behind. Up until that point, Akash Deep had suffered a great deal at the hands of the England left-hander, who had spanked him for 25 runs from 24 deliveries and five boundaries, including a reverse-scooped six. Even though Duckett took his own wicket, Akash Deep chose to bid him a respectful farewell. The ICC regulations prohibit bodily contact, and umpire Ahsan Raza spoke with him, presumably reminding him of the dos and don’ts.
In the final over of the second day, Akash Deep entered as a nightwatcher, and the two would soon continue their niceties. Before the over was up, Akash Deep took a leg-bye after flicking a leg-side delivery from Gus Atkinson for four. Later, after Yashasvi Jaiswal and Akash Deep informed the umpires that the light was not suitable for facing the seamers, Duckett would whisper a few words to them. Fifteen minutes prior to the planned close time, stumps were called. As soon as play resumed on Saturday, Akash Deep knew that England would seek his wicket.
From the first over on Saturday morning, Akash Deep’s confidence was evident. He went down on his left knee to pick another two after sweeping the third ball from Jacob Bethell, a part-time left-arm spinner, for four. On a field that has been quite conducive to the seamers, India had chosen to use the heavy roller on Saturday in order to level the early wetness. You weren’t alone in believing that Jaiswal would take advantage of the early edge rather than Akash Deep.
Akash Deep and other nightwatchers are supposed to take advantage of their good fortune while it lasts and then go. India’s tail had been limping in this Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy thus far. Before Saturday, Jasprit Bumrah, Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh, and Anshul Kamboj had combined for 49 runs in nine innings, with Siraj’s eight being the most. The only time it faltered was when India lost by 22 runs towards the end of the Lord’s Test match.
That test would stick in Akash Deep’s memory. He entered as a nightwatcher on the fourth night at Lord’s and managed to survive eleven deliveries, but he was unable to stop England captain Ben Stokes’ ball that smashed his stumps. He had only run once.
Akash Deep made the braver choice. Shubman Gill would have been prepared to leave at any moment when Atkinson took Bethell’s position from the Pavilion End in the morning’s third over. However, when Akash Deep hit a four past midwicket against a longer delivery from Atkinson, the India and some England fans erupted in excitement.
Josh Tongue would bang the ball back-of-length well outside of off stump, then he would open the bat face to direct it past gully for another four in the following over.
Tongue was finding it difficult to put together a series of consecutive deliveries to challenge the tailender, even though he was regularly beating the outside edge. Akash Deep, on 21, was caught on the back foot just in front of the stumps after he slid in a nip-backer in his subsequent over. Umpire Raza, however, was not convinced. Since the DRS indicated that it was merely clipping the leg stump, Akash Deep lived. Tongue became even more irate when Zak Crawley spilt the outside edge on the following ball.
After that, Akash Deep stayed composed as he guarded with a straight bat, assessed the length fast, and responded based on the ball’s merits.
Akash Deep would let out a loud cry of delight as he celebrated his first Test fifty, and an inside-edge would sneak behind square leg for a four. For the first time, the entire Indian dressing room rose to cheer an innings that was severely harming England.
After Amit Mishra, who accomplished the feat twice, Akash Deep became just the second nightwatcher for India to earn a half-century this century.
For Akash Deep, who disclosed his sister’s cancer diagnosis during the Edgbaston Test, this has already been a healing series. He was holding his bowling shoulder a lot during the first innings here and missed the fourth Test in Manchester due to a groin ache. However, Akash Deep hasn’t let emotion control him or interfere with his work.
On Saturday, Akash Deep received a standing ovation from his teammates, coaches, and the entire Oval crowd as he made his way back and ascended the steps to the dressing room. Akash Deep received love after asking for it. He reciprocated by doing something that would serve as a trigger for India’s victory.