Akash Deep (born 15 December 1996) is an Indian international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He plays as a right arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

and right handed lower order batter for the

India national cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and is a full member nation of the International Cricket Council with ...

International cricket International cricket matches are played between the teams representing their nations, administrated by the International Cricket Council. The main forms are Test matches, ODI matches and T20I matches. Most games are played as part of "tou ...

, for the

Bengal cricket team The Bengal cricket team is an Indian domestic cricket team representing the state of West Bengal. The team based in Kolkata. It is administered by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and participate in tournaments organized by the Board ...

in domestic cricket, for the

Lucknow Super Giants The Lucknow Super Giants, also known as LSG, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group. Ekana Cricket ...

in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

and for the Servotech Siliguri Strikers in

Bengal Pro T20 League The Bengal Pro T20 League also known as Bengal Pro T20 or BPLT20, is a men's and women's professional Twenty20 cricket league in West Bengal, India. It is organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and contested by eight district-ba ...

. He was born in

Dehri Dehri also known as Dehri-on-Sone is a Nagar parishad and corresponding community development block in Rohtas district in the state of Bihar, India. Situated on the banks of Sone River, Dehri is a railway hub, and is adjoining Dalmianagar that u ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and grew up in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. He made his international debut against England in the fourth Test of the 2024 series.

Personal life

His father Ramji Singh served as a government school teacher in Bihar's Sasaram. He faced opposition from his parents and neighbors in Bihar for his passion for playing cricket over academics. At a time when the Bihar Cricket Association was suspended, there was no proper platform for budding cricketers in Bihar to pursue their career prospects in cricket, and Akash Deep was one of the victims of it. Some of the parents urged their children not to mingle with Akash Deep, as Akash was the only person to passionately engage in cricket in Sasaram. Meanwhile, some of those parents were cautious that their own children would follow in the footsteps of Akash Deep by abandoning academics. Akash Deep's father apparently wanted his son to appear for exams that would help him land a government job, but Akash was more keen on not giving up his interest in cricket. His father advised him to attend the Bihar police constable's exams or at least try for state government's Class IV staff peon job. However, he faced setbacks at a time when he was focusing on his career ambitions as his father and his elder brother died unexpectedly, leaving behind Akash as well as two sisters in their family. His father and elder brother died all within six months and Akash became the immediate

breadwinner The breadwinner model is a paradigm of family centered on a breadwinner, "the member of a family who earns the money to support the others." Traditionally, the earner works outside the home to provide the family with income and benefits such as he ...

in his family.

Early career

A close friend of him helped him to join a cricket club in

Durgapur Durgapur (), is an industrial hub and a planned urban agglomeration in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is stands on the northern bank of the Damodar river and located in Paschim Bardhaman district. Durgapur is a major centre for producin ...

to manage his daily expenses. He started playing tennis-ball matches around Durgapur and earn INR 600 per day and he would earn around 20,000 per month playing tennis-ball matches. He joined a United Club in the CAB first division league in 2010 to realize his dreams of cricketing career. He initially joined a local academy as a frontline batsman, but at the request of his coaches, he switched to fast bowling as he started gaining height over the years. He worked alongside former Bengal fast bowler Ranadeb Bose as part of India's Vision 2020 programme and he got selected for the Bengal U-23 cricket team within a year. However, he faced a career-threatening back injury at that time, and he apparently received support from his Bengal U-23 head coach, Sourasish Lahiri, who looked after his rehabilitation process.

Domestic career

He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

debut for

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in the

2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy The 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was the eleventh edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, an annual Twenty20 tournament in India. Played from 24 March to 7 April 2015, it was contested by 37 Ranji Trophy teams, including the nine expansion ...

on 9 March 2019. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut on 24 September 2019, for Bengal in the

2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy The 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy was the 27th edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, an annual List A cricket tournament in India. It took place in September and October 2019, after the 2019–20 Duleep Trophy, Duleep Trophy and before the 2019� ...

. He made his first-class debut on 25 December 2019, for Bengal in the

2019–20 Ranji Trophy The 2019–20 Ranji Trophy was the 86th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It took place between December 2019 and March 2020. Chandigarh competed in the Ranji Trophy for the first time. Vidarbha wer ...

. On 30 August 2021, Deep was included in the

Royal Challengers Bangalore The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...

squad for the second phase of the

2021 Indian Premier League The 2021 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, VIVO IPL 2021) was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricke ...

(IPL) in the UAE. In February 2022, he was bought by the

in the

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for the

2022 Indian Premier League The 2022 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, TATA IPL 2022) was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket ...

tournament. He also took eleven scalps including two four-wicket hauls in two tour games for India A against England Lions prior to his test callup.

International career

Akash Deep replaced injured

Shivam Mavi Shivam Mavi (born 26 November 1998) is an Indian international cricketer, who is a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He made his international debut for the Indian cricket team in January 2023. Domestic and T20 franchise career In January 2018, he ...

in India's squad for the

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially the 19th Asian Games () and also known as Hangzhou 2022 ( zh, c=, s=杭州2022, labels=no), were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The ...

. In November 2023, he was included in India's ODI squad for the series against South Africa in South Africa as an injury replacement for

Deepak Chahar Deepak Chahar (born 7 August 1992) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a right-arm medium pace swing bowler, who plays for Rajasthan in domestic cricket and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. He was a part of the Indian squad ...

, but he did not play in any of the matches. In February 2024, he received his maiden Test callup for the last three Tests for the home Test series against England. He received the news of his selection while he was playing the

2023–24 Ranji Trophy The 2023–24 Ranji Trophy is the 89th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It took place from 5 January to 14 March 2024. Saurashtra were the defending champions, winning their second Ranji Trophy in ...

representing Bengal.

References

External links

* 1996 births Living people Indian cricketers Bengal cricketers Cricketers from Bihar Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Asian Games gold medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games India Test cricketers Lucknow Super Giants cricketers {{India-cricket-bio-1996-stub