LUCKNOW: India pacer Akash Deep has been spending high quality time along with his household after a fruitful tour of England. On Saturday, he additionally paid a go to to Lucknow to satisfy his sisters on the event of Rakshabandhan. Despite his busy schedule, Akash Deep took day trip to speak to TOI on his experiences of the lengthy English tour.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Opening up on the controversy involving Ben Duckett throughout the Oval Test, Akash Deep revealed that he informed Duckett that he won’t be the one one to hit and he would hit too. Akash Deep gave a sendoff to the England opener by placing his hand round his shoulder and uttering a couple of phrases to him after dismissing him. The photos went viral.
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Do you consider Akash Deep’s interplay with Ben Duckett was sportsmanlike?
“On a cricket field, you need to keep a cool head. I told Duckett, ‘You won’t be the only one hitting; I’ll hit too. Sometimes you miss, and I hit’.”Akash Deep mentioned that Duckett had informed him that he wouldn’t be in a position to dismiss him and no matter he mentioned to Duckett was in response. “It was quite a good experience. Every pace bowler wants to play in England. Although the wickets were not as we had expected, we still put our heart and soul into every match to end the hard-fought series on even terms. The series was a great learning for me.”“Taking ten wickets individually in a match (at Edgbaston, which India won) is quite significant but scoring a half century for the team was more important to me. While I was working on my half-century, the only thing on my mind was not to get out and to keep playing,” he added.
Asked about dedicating his 10-wicket match haul within the second Test at Birmingham to his elder sister who’s affected by most cancers, he mentioned, “My message was not just for my sister; it was for the entire country and the world, emphasizing the importance of standing by loved ones during difficult times.”On the ultimate day of the final Test on the Oval, Akash Deep remembers, “I woke up early due to excitement, knowing we needed four wickets, and England wanted just 35 runs, and that only we three pacers had to do it. But we believed in ourselves, and the England batters apparently panicked. We didn’t know the ball would start swinging in the morning, but once it did, we realized the wickets would fall quickly, and that’s what happened.“On his accomplice in assault, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep mentioned, “As a fast bowler, he is fit, and the way he puts in effort behind the ball sets him apart. Playing five consecutive matches is commendable. From this, one learns that being mentally fit is more important than being physically fit.”