Irfan Pathan hails Akash Deep after wonderful Test debut, hopeful of pacer's career growth

Former Indian national team all-rounder Irfan Pathan heaped praise on debut making right-arm pacer Akash Deep for his remarkable performance in the 1st innings of the 4th Test against England here at the JSCA stadium in Ranchi. Akash rattled the English top order in the initial hours of day 1 with his accurate line length and decent pace in a cracked-up pitch in Ranchi.

Akash Deep in fact had made life very difficult for the English top 3 – Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, and Ollie Pope, all of whom lost their wickets against him. The 27-year-old Bengal pacer who could be hitting his peak years in the upcoming seasons, bowled three fantastic deliveries back-to-back and it was the same thing that Irfan Pathan also highlighted during a recent interaction with PTI at the New Delhi marathon.

Dream debut for Akash Deep

England’s centurion from the 3rd Test, Ben Duckett was the first to depart for a mere 11 runs as Akash Deep’s good length delivery took his edge and went to Dhruv Jurel’s gloves. Then Ollie Pope was trapped for a leg before for a 2-ball duck before Akash bowled his best delivery against Zak Crawley who was all ends up as the ball went straight into the stumps.

His initial spell might have helped the Indians gain early momentum but then under-fire number 4 batter Joe Root came out with his best knock of the Test series, scoring 122* off 277 deliveries with England posting 353. While speaking to PTI yesterday, Irfan Pathan stated that Akash Deep deserves a lot of credit for his performance as performing like that in Indian conditions is never an easy task.

“As a batter you want your debut to happen in India but as a fast bowler you dream to have your debut in England, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand. The way he bowled in the first session of the match and to pick up three wickets is commendable. We can only hope to see Akash’s career graph go up from here.” – Irfan Pathan told PTI. 

“He will make it big” – Irfan Pathan opines on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s future

Then Irfan Pathan was asked to comment on India’s UP-born left-hand opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has taken the cricketing fraternity by storm, something people in England are not liking at all. The 22-year-old who has an experience of playing less than 10 international Test matches, has been a major revelation in the series.

He has already surpassed the 600 mark in the series, leads the run-scoring charts, has two consecutive double-hundreds to his name, and is turning out to be a terrific match-winner for the Indian national team. Answering about how far his potential can take him in the future, the 2007 T20 World Cup winner claimed Jaiswal is going to make it big. “Yashasvi Jaiswal is a special cricketer, he has a very bright future and he will make it big.” – Pathan concluded. 

The fact that India handed debut caps to 4 domestic players – Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, and Akash Deep, speaks volumes about the culture in the Ranji trophy, which is and which will keep giving talents like these.