Akash Deep has injected fire into the ongoing second Test between India and England at Edgbaston in Birmingham this week. After taking four wickets in the first innings, the Bengal seamer took two wickets on Day 4 of the second innings, putting India in a strong position to win their first Test match at Edgbaston.
Akash Deep had stated prior to the Test match that he believed the conditions in England to benefit seamers.
However, he felt misled after landing in England and discovering that the circumstances were quite similar to those in India, where fast bowlers rarely receive assistance from the pitch.
Saba Karim, a former India cricketer and national selector, said that the 28-year-old tricked Joe Root by producing a peach of a delivery to dismiss him in the closing stages of Day 4 of the Edgbaston Test.
“Akash Deep was complaining about feeling tricked by the wicket because it resembled an Indian wicket, but he really cheated Joe Root. When you slant the ball in from the outside of the crease, the batter is made to believe that it would only come in from that angle,” Karim said during a discussion on Sony Sports.
Karim also stated that the former England captain couldn’t have had anything different, and that most batsmen would have attempted to play the unplayable ball to the on-side, as he did.
“What can the batter do if the ball straightens out after being pitched? If you bowled such a ball to a superb batter, it was unplayable. Not only Joe Root, but 99.9 percent of the batters would have played that way towards the onside. Joe Root also tried it, and Akash Deep truly opened up Joe Root,” Saba said.
As a batter, you feel the ball will come in only from that angle: Hemang Badani
Former India cricketer and Delhi Capitals’ head coach Hemang Badani explained how Root got bamboozled by the delivery from Deep.
“It was an excellent ball. He got completely beaten. He created an angle. He went wide off the crease, even touched the side line, created such a big angle, and then made the ball go straight from there. As a batter, you feel the ball will come in only from that angle,” he said.
“Once the ball straightened after pitching, Joe Root had no chance. When the angle of the seam position is towards fine leg, cricket’s rule is that the ball cannot straighten from there. I don’t believe Joe Root made a mistake. The ball pitched and went away. It’s an unplayable ball. In my opinion, this was the best ball of this Test match,” Badani observed.
England finished Day 4 at 72/3, needing another 536 runs to win the Test match on the final day. Meanwhile, India need just seven wickets to end their long wait to win a Test match at Edgbaston.
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