3 reasons why Akash Deep should be in India's squad for the 2024 Border Gavaskar Trophy
Seventeen wickets fell in the first two sessions across the two games between India 'A' and 'B' and between India 'C' and 'D' in the highly anticipated Duleep Trophy on Thursday, September 5. 15 of those wickets went to fast-bowlers, who made merry of pace, bounce and seam movement to offer in Anantapur and Bengaluru.
This has come amid a bit of floating uncertainty around India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour of Australia in December. If it's just a coincidence, it's a pretty big one!
Although pitches in India tend to favor pacers early in the domestic seasons, you can't rule out the decision-makers in the BCCI using the tournament as a trial for Australia by offering pacy strips. There are more Test series to come before December but retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy could be at the top of the list for Gautam Gambhir's team.
After the first two sessions, the stand-out fast bowler with the best visible potential to go to Australia across the two games was Akash Deep. The Bengal pacer picked up Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy's scalps on back-to-back balls and conceded only 19 runs in his 14 overs.
Below, we explain in three points why he should already have his tickets booked for down under:
#3 Well-suited skill set for the conditions
Akash isn't your predominantly hit-the-deck (think, Josh Hazlewood) bowler India would love to have in Australia. But he is brilliant in using the seam -- watch above how he squared up Nitish -- and can make the ball skid into the batters at pace.
Those skills would be quite handy in Australia where he'd be able to keep good batters pinned to their crease for long periods. More importantly, he bowls with exquisite control which is pivotal for a new bowler to survive in Australia, and even more so now with the likes of Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh bodyguarding that middle order.
He'd be able to present himself as a great backup for both Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, with the latter currently recovering from a big injury. When he plays, India would get someone with a great floor (even his bad performances won't be horrible) and a pretty good ceiling (his best performances could be match-winning) which is perfect.
#2 More experience than his competitors
What are your other options? Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar and maybe Vijaykumar Vyshak and Harshit Rana.
All of them have either not played for India in Tests (Akash took three brilliant wickets on his Test debut in February 2024 against England) or are less experienced and successful than him in first-class domestic cricket. India can't compromise on the ability to handle pressure when picking their players because the experience of earlier years has been bad, and Akash ensures they won't have to.
He looked unperturbed against England and has been in multiple title-winning teams over the years.
#1 Form and momentum behind him -- which is absolutely crucial for Australia
Finally, India can't and would probably not be thinking about relying on young, unknown names to perform their best against a superior team to create magic. Australia, too, would be too strong, too angry, and too professional to make the same mistakes as the last time.
Apart from skill and experience, India would also need to see momentum and form, which is something Australia are quite good at utilising (remember Scott Boland?). Akash's career has been on a quick rise even before his Test debut and he picked up 15 wickets in last his four red-ball innings before the Duleep Trophy.
More wickets in the Duleep Trophy will allow Akash to make a case for himself for starting in the Bangladesh and South Africa home Tests alongside Siraj, or even ahead of him if Jasprit Bumrah comes back. If he maintains the same rhythm, which he looks likely to, taking him to Australia would be a no-brainer.