Indian bowler Akash Deep emulated a 14-year-old record as he slammed a brilliant fifty during the second innings of the fifth Test against England. Coming in as a nightwatchman, Akash slammed a 71-ball fifty on Day 3 of the Oval Test.
Akash has become just the second Indian nightwatchman to have scored a fifty in Test cricket since 2000. He joins Amit Mishra as the only other Indian to have done so. Mishra achieved the feat twice, having scored 50 against Bangladesh in 2010 in Chattogram and then 84 against England in 2011 at the Oval.
Akash batted with a strong temperament to see off the difficult phase at the end of the second day and then did very well on the moving day. He moved his way strongly, and when he gained confidence, he played his strokes and piled frustration on the England bowlers.
Akash got to his fifty on the 71st ball with a four off Gus Atkinson when he smacked one to square leg. The Indian dressing room stood up to applaud the effort with smiles beaming all around. Akash continued scoring a few more strokes, edging some and going fearless as he helped India take their lead ahead.
However, his stay came to an end when he tucked a short ball from Jamie Overton towards point, where Atkinson ran to hold the catch. India captain Shubman Gill came in next as he looked to carry on the things ahead.
Gill and Jaiswal went unbeaten at lunch on the moving day. The visitors added 114 runs in the opening session of the day and lost only Akash Deep. Meanwhile, Jaiswal closed in on his hundred too, having gone unbeaten on 85 at lunch.
England's Playing XI:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue
India's Playing XI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
