"Didn't get enough wickets..." - India legend confirms Akash Deep's Test career is FINISHED

Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently retired from international cricket, has made a big prediction about his former India teammate Akash Deep.

The 28-year-old fast-bowler made his debut for Team India during the Ranchi Test against England last year and hit the ground running. He impressed one and all with his bowling, picking up 3 wickets in his first-ever Test innings. Akash Deep played in both Tests against Bangladesh in September before playing two of the three Tests against New Zealand in India's last home Test series of the year.

During the five-match Test series in Australia, he played in the third and fourth Tests in Brisbane and Melbourne respectively. Akash Deep has got chances in the Indian team regularly since making his debut last February.

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Ravichandran Ashwin's prediction for Akash Deep:

The way things have unfolded in the last one year for Akash Deep, it looks likely that he will be a regular in India's playing eleven in Tests. However, Ravichandran Ashwin has said that the pacer might struggle to get back into the Test side in the near future after failing to impress in Australia. In four innings against Australia, Akash Deep had picked up 5 wickets.

Ravichandran Ashwin made the comments while speaking at AWS AI Conclave 2025 in Bengaluru. The India great was explaining why India has failed to become a cricketing powerhouse, especially in terms of producing quality bowlers on a consistent basis. The off-spinner said that in India bowlers are sidelined after only a handful of bad innings while the batters get ample support.

"It is an unfair world. The batters get cocooned, but the bowlers don't. You will find Akash Deep not playing another Test match because he didn't get enough wickets in Australia. But you will never find another batter who hasn't made enough runs not playing another game for India. That's exactly why Australia is a dominant force in world cricket and Indians aren't," said Ashwin.

"Even though we have everything, I still think Australia are a dominant force because they know where their roots are and they know bowlers are their main guys who will win Test matches and tournaments. The day we get there, bowlers will start consuming data way better than they do," he added.

Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin brought down the curtains on his illustrious career after the Brisbane Test against Australia last December. The Tamil Nadu ace is widely regarded as one of the best spinners of this generation. He played 106 Tests for India and picked up a staggering 537 wickets.

Only Anil Kumble has more wickets than him for India in the longest format of the game. In limited-overs cricket, Ashwin picked up 156 ODI wickets in 116 matches and 72 wickets in 65 T20Is. While he has retired from international cricket, he will continue to play in the IPL. Ashwin will be plying his trade for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025.