‘Yeah, it’s obviously frustrating’: Josh Tongue on Akash Deep’s fighting knock

LONDON: England pacer Josh Tongue admitted to feeling the heat after Indian tail-ender Akash Deep produced a spirited innings, frustrating the English bowlers on Day 3 of the final Test at The Oval.

Coming in as a nightwatchman late on Day 2, Akash Deep defied expectations and went on to score a gritty 66 off 94 balls on Day 3 of the Test match, the knock included 12 boundaries. His fearless approach and ability to stick around gave India vital runs at a crucial stage of the match.

With his first fifty in the longest format, he became just the fourth Indian to score a Test fifty at No.4 in England in this century, joining the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Indian skipper Shubman Gill.

“Yeah, it’s obviously frustrating,” Tongue said at the post-day press conference.

“It’s happened to me many a times where we just sort of said as a bowling unit, just bowl your best ball for as long as you can and hopefully either nick one or you bowled him,” he added.

With his maiden Test fifty, Akash Deep joins an elite list along, Hugh Trumble, Shane Warne, Imran Khan, Keith Miller and Richard Hadlee to become the 12th player with a ten-fer during a match and a fifty on an England tour.

Deep, with a first-class average of 11.48 before the Oval Test, is just the fourth Indian to score a men’s Test fifty at No.4 in England this century, joining Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill.

Deep mesmerised one and all with a ten-wicket haul in a critic-silencing, era-defining win over England at Edgbaston by 336 runs, their first-ever Test win at the venue last month. During the Test match, Akash set a massive record, delivering India’s best spell ever in England.

The pacer etched his name in the record books by registering the best bowling figures in a match for India in England, surpassing the long-standing record held by Chetan Sharma. Deep’s match figures of 10/187 edged past Sharma’s 10/188.

Deep is also the first Indian nightwatchman to score 50-plus runs since Amit Mishra (84 runs) against the same opponent at the same venue back in 2011.

The duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Akash Deep added 107 runs for the third wicket on Day 3 in the series decider. This partnership was the 18th 100-run stand in this ongoing England tour, the most in a Test series in this century (since 2000), surpassing 17 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2003-04.

The partnership between Jaiswal-Deep was a turning point in India’s second innings as they lost KL Rahul and Sai Sudharsan for low scores on Day 2.
Akash Deep’s knock boosted India’s total to 396 and proved that each run has value in a high-stakes Test match. For England, it served as a reminder that in red-ball cricket, the job is never truly done until the last man is out. (ANI)