Deep dedicates his best moment to his late father and brother

Deep, whose place of birth (Sasaram) and place of residence (Kolkata) are nearly equidistant from the site of his debut in Ranchi, veered towards nostalgia when asked to describe the emotions of the morning. Naturally, that would involve bringing up his late father and his late elder brother.

Ranchi: "When I left home, I had nothing left to lose and everything to gain,” said a composed Akash Deep during his maiden presser as a Test cricketer for India. 

The 27-year-old, whose place of birth (Sasaram) and place of residence (Kolkata) are nearly equidistant from the site of his debut in Ranchi, veered towards nostalgia when asked to describe the emotions of the morning. Naturally, that would involve bringing up his late father and his late elder brother. 

“You know, I couldn’t achieve much when my father was around, but I am glad that I am able to do that now. I dedicate this moment to him,” he said on Friday.  

“It was so tough to play cricket after losing both of them in a year, and I had to take on more responsibility because of that. I have worked hard to get here, and when I did get here, Rohit (Sharma) bhai and (Rahul) Dravid sir told me all I have to do is keep it simple and do what I have done to get this far.”

“Rahul sir’s speech when he gave me the cap made me very emotional, but I knew I had to focus on the game at hand,” he added. 

While still reeling from the happenings of the day, which saw him pick up three wickets, Deep was acutely aware of his role and the lengths he had to bowl to find success on the ‘slow’ wicket. Also, he was particularly adept at describing how the pitch performed during the course of the day. 

“There was not much movement in the air, and even off the cracks there was not much except for the rare one,” he explained. “I bowled a tight line and hit the seam as often as possible and that worked, but once the ball became soft, even the seam became soft, and that didn’t allow for much movement.”

As for the first Zak Crawley dismissal which was overturned because of a no-ball, Deep said he wasn't too bothered about it because he knew that someone in the team would get him out eventually.

“… but in the next over when (Mohammed) Siraj went for three fours and a six, I felt bad. I didn’t want my team to fall behind in this game because of me. I was a bit tense about that, but I am glad I got him out, properly, not much later (smiles),” he said.