Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa showered praise on Akash Deep after India registered a gargantuan win of 336 runs against England in the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Uthappa admitted he was surprised by the Bengal fast bowler’s impressive bowling show against the hosts.
While Deep bagged 4-88 in the first innings, he returned with figures of 6-99 in the second innings. Thus, Deep returned with match figures 10-187, which is the best for any Indian bowler in English conditions.
Deep bowled in the right areas and reaped rewards for his accuracy against the home team.
Robin Uthappa said on his YouTube Channel, “To be honest, I have to put my hand up and say that I was one of the guys who didn’t have a lot of confidence in Akash Deep, coming into England, even though I genuinely believed that he was really unlucky in Australia. I just felt like he was more of a new ball bowler and probably would not be as effective with the old ball. But he proved all his naysayers wrong, me included. “
“I was just surprised to see him bowl so well and if he’s bowling as well as he is right now, keep him going. This is the way to go. Getting the ball to wobble as much as he did, to get the ball to move as much as he did off the wicket, on that track that takes skill and you could see there was a sense of self-assuredness about Akash when he bowled in this innings,” he added.
Uthappa said Deep’s confidence was palpable in the way he celebrated his wickets at Edgbaston.
“It felt like, just the demeanour felt like ‘I got to show the world how good I am’. He took the bull by its horns and said ‘lets shake this up now’. Just the way he celebrated his wickets. That for me speaks volumes about the confidence he has in his own ability and I am happy to say that I was wrong about Akash Deep,” the former India batter said.
Meanwhile, India were without the services of their gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested to manage his workload. Uthappa said India winning without Bumrah’s services augurs well for the team.
“It augurs well for India. You got to give credit to even the conviction and the energy of the Indian team. While they were fielding, you could see that they were hungry for the win. They really wanted the win and just the way Washington Sundar bowled. That ball to Ben Stokes in the second innings, that was a peach man. What’s with Ben Stokes being surprised about every time he is out? KL Rahul was so sharp, he was the only one who was going mad at slip,” Uthappa said.
The third Test match between India and England will be played at Lord’s, London from 10th July onwards.
