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In the ongoing 4th Test match between India and England in Ranchi, Akash Deep became the 313th player to make his debut for India in Test cricket. Akash was handed his international debut cap from Head Coach Rahul Dravid in presence of his mother. The 27-year-old was picked as replacement of Jasprit Bumrah in the playing XI as the senior pacer was rested to manage his workload.
Akash Deep hails from Sasaram a place in Bihar and wanted to play cricket at a very young age itself but was discouraged by his father. He left for Durgapur in search of a job and found support from his uncles. He also went to a local academy and there he was impressing everyone with his pace bowling skills but unexpectedly his father suffered a stroke, leading to his untimely demise. Two months later, his older brother also passed away and the cricketer has all upon him.
The above situation made him sit out for a period of three years, trying to reconstruct his life but realised his cricket dream was too big to let go. He returned to Durgapur, and then eventually moved to Kolkata, where he rented a small room and lived with his cousin. Akash tried to change the course of his life but his love for cricket couldn't keep him away from the game for long.
He joined the Bengal Under-23 team and later also got an opportunity to make his debut in Ranji Trophy for Bengal during the 2019-20 season. Then he was picked as a net bowler for RCB in IPL 2020 and later he went on to debut for them in IPL 2022. He took 11 wickets from four innings (two games) for India A against England Lions recently in January 2024 and impressed everyone to earn a maiden national call-up.
