Tushar Deshpande ready to fight Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep for India Test spot

The 30-year-old Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande has made it clear that he is ready to fight everyone for a spot in the Indian team as he aspires to play Test cricket.

Tushar Deshpande said that his "major ankle surgery" kept him away from the game for quite some time, but he is now fully ready to get back to action.

The aspiration is always to play Test cricket for India - Tushar Deshpande

Deshpande is a well-known name in the Indian domestic cricket circle, and he has also shown his true capabilities with the ball in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

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He has played for Delhi Capitals (DC), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL, but his very best has come for the five-time champions. In IPL 2023 and 2024, he bagged 21 and 17 wickets for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Tushar Deshpande's impressive performances in domestic cricket and IPL helped him get an India call-up for the Zimbabwe tour, where he played two T20I matches, picking two wickets in July 2024.

Post the series, the pacer suffered an ankle injury, and he had to undergo surgery. He was hopeful of playing Ranji Trophy knockouts in February 2025, but his rehab needed more time.

However, now he is fully fit and eyeing an incredible outing for Mumbai, which can open the doors for an India Test call-up.

“I have put in a lot of effort, actually. It was a major ankle surgery and that being my landing foot, it was necessary that I get operated at that moment of time because coming ahead are a lot of international tours as well. I’m aiming for that and I’m feeling good now for the start of the season,” Deshpande said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.

"The aspiration is always to play Test cricket for India, but I’m taking one match at a time, one day at a point, and just following a good process and keeping myself fit because I’ve lost considerable time off the game last year. So just keeping myself fit so I can again hit the hard yards for Mumbai,” he said.

Playing in England also... I was ready for the challenge - Tushar Deshpande

After his IPL 2025 stint with Rajasthan Royals, Deshpande travelled with the India A squad to England and played one match against England Lions, where he registered figures of 2/62 & 1/13. He further said:

"Absolutely, like I said, now I'm fit and fine. So any challenge which comes up, I'm ready for it. Playing in England also... I was ready for the challenge. Even if I would have been called for the Test squad, I was ready for it because I did well in the second game which I played for India A.

"So everything revolves around my fitness. Last year I wasn't fit, I had a surgery that's why I was away from the game. Now I'm fit and fine, so I always wanted to play the game and play for India."

Also Read: Arshdeep Singh got frustrated being benched on the England tour? Pacer finally breaks the silence

I feel batting comes naturally to me - Tushar Deshpande

Tushar Deshpande might not be rated highly for his batting skills, but he proved his credentials by smashing a Ranji Trophy ton against Baroda while batting at No. 11 in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals last year.

Talking about this, Tushar Deshpande said that he took up batting first in his young days in cricket and only picked up fast bowling when he reached the U-13 stage. He said:

“Fast bowling was the second thing which I later picked up in my career when I was at Under-13. So, I feel batting comes naturally to me, but my dad always told me that if you bat with patience you’ll be a good batter. He just told me ‘don’t throw your wicket away and let the bowler earn your wicket’.

“During my hundred, Tanush [Kotian] trusted me and rotated the strike – so credit goes to him as well. I had scored 70-odd runs (62 from No. 7) against MP (Madhya Pradesh) back in 2016 in my debut season.”