I had nothing to lose but a lot to gain: Akash Deep on emotional Test debut

At a very young age, Akash Deep had to bring a halt to his cricket career, with his father having a paralytic attack and subsequently facing the eventuality of life. Two months after his father’s passing away, the young man from Bihar then lost his elder brother and his biggest hope. The entire saga took away three precious years from his career when a pacer normally goes through the transformation. 

Nothing came easy for Akash Deep, who had to play cricket in Bengal with the hope of making it to the next stage of his career. When that fortune eventually came along, with a Test debut against England in Ranchi, Deep didn’t leave anything in the tank. A ferocious spell rocked England in the first session, and it certainly made him emotional as he spoke to the media at the end of the day’s play.

“Mere paas khone ko kuch nahi tha aur paane ko bahut kuch tha (I had nothing to lose but a lot to gain),” an emotional Akash said in the post-match press conference.

“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.

“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.

Akash Deep worked under the tutelage of Ranadeb Bose and in the 2020 Ranji Trophy, he emerged as the major architect of Bengal pace bowling. The right-arm quick was a superstar in his India 'A' outing against the England Lions in 2024. In four innings, the pacer had 11 wickets at an average of 18.7 and a bowling strike rate of 36.4. It reflected in his performance in Ranchi. 

“They 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,” Akash added.

“As an individual, I didn’t feel very bad because I knew that if I don’t get him out, someone 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.

“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 three 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.