 "Akash Deep made a dream debut by taking three wickets in first session of Ranchi Test. Reuters")
Akash Deep’s inspirational story keeps getting better and better as the Bengal pacer made his India debut in the Ranchi Test against England on Friday and took three quick wickets in the first session of Day 1. The first wicket for the debutant could have come as early as in his second over but the pacer got unlucky as he overstepped . The brilliant length ball nipped back in to castle Zak Crawley who was beaten at the inside edge, but just as the pacers bursted into the celebration, the umpire signalled a no ball.
Nonetheless, he was the first Indian to get a breakthrough on Day 1 as he removed England opener Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in the same over. In the 10th over of the match, after England forged a 47-run opening stand, Akash Deep stunned the visitors with the wicket of Duckett who was caught behind. The excellent delivery jagged back in and straightened just a bit to find the edge.
The next batter Pope played a dot ball before being trapped in front of the wicket. Pope was beaten by a ball that moved back in and after the umpire turned down the appeal, India reviewed successfully.
In his next over, he finally got rid of Crawley as the ball stayed down just a bit and jagged back in to break the stumps.
WATCH: All 3 wickets of Akash Deep on debut
Ravichandran Ashwin then removed Jonny Bairstow and Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Ben Stokes to deepen England’s troubles on Day 1 of the fourth Test. the hosts, who are 2-1 down in the five-match series, were battling on 147/5 at the time of publishing this report with Joe Root and Ben Foakes holding fort.