Coming in as a nightwatchman, Indian pacer Akash Deep enjoyed his first Test fifty in his career.
Akash reached his fifty by hitting a leg-side four off England’s Gus Atkinson. With this innings, he also revived a 14-year-old Indian Test cricket memory.
On the final day of the second session of the ongoing Oval Test against England, Akash came to bat as a nightwatchman. With some solid batting, he reached his fifty in the first session of the third day off 70 balls.
Before Akash, the only Indian nightwatchman to score a fifty was Amit Mishra. Interestingly, Amit’s innings also came against England at the Oval, back in 2011. In that match, Amit scored 84 runs batting at number five in India’s second innings after following on. England won that match by an innings and 8 runs.
Akash reached his fifty in his tenth Test match. He already had a fifty in first-class cricket.
At the end of the second day’s final session of the Oval Test, India went out to bat again. When Sai Sudarshan was dismissed in the last over of the day, Akash came to the crease unbeaten on 4 runs.
In the eighth over of the new day, England had a chance to dismiss Akash, but Jack Crawley dropped a catch in the slips off Josh Tong’s bowling when Akash was on 21 runs.
Given a lifeline, Akash took full advantage, steadily building his innings and frustrating the English bowlers on his way to fifty. He formed a valuable 107-run partnership for the third wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Akash’s resistance was finally broken by Jamie Overton. After facing 94 balls and hitting 12 fours, Akash scored 66 runs before getting out. This was a notable innings from the pacer who recently returned from injury.
