Akash Deep

Akash Deep (born 15 December 1996) is an Indian cricketer. He plays for Bengal in domestic cricket and for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL. He made his international test debut against England in the 4th test on 23 Feb 2024.

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 in his family.

Early career
A close friend of him helped him to join a cricket club in Durgapur to manage his daily expenses. He started playing tennis-ball matches around Durgapur and earn Indian Rupees 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 debut for Bengal in the 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on 9 March 2019. He made his List A debut on 24 September 2019, for Bengal in the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He made his first-class debut on 25 December 2019, for Bengal in the 2019–20 Ranji Trophy.

On 30 August 2021, Deep was included in the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the second phase of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE. In February 2022, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League 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 in India's squad for the 2022 Asian Games. 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, 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 test callup while he was busy playing the 2023–24 Ranji Trophy representing Bengal.