Credit: BCCI/X
In the first session on day three of the fifth Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Akash Deep, the Indian fast bowler, who was sent out to bat at number four as the nightwatchman, scored his maiden fifty in Test cricket, to put his team in a strong position against England. The milestone for Akash Deep came on the 70th ball of his innings, hitting a four on the bowling of Gus Atkinson off an inside edge towards the square leg region.
After putting the ball away for a boundary to get to his maiden Test fifty, Akash Deep punched the air in delight and raised his bat up before hugging his non-striking partner Yashasvi Jaiswal. When the camera panned towards the Indian dressing room, his teammates, including the captain Shubman Gill, had huge grins on their faces while clapping for him.
The Indian head coach, Gautam Gambhir, not known for showing his emotions much, smiled for Akash Deep after his incredible achievement in a tough situation for the team.
With India trailing England by 23 runs in the first innings, they needed to start well in their second innings on a tough batting pitch at The Oval in London, to keep themselves in the Test and the series, which Yashasvi Jaiswal and Akash Deep have managed to do for them. Their partnership of 107 runs was broken by Jamie Overton in the closing stages of the first session on day three, dismissing Akash Deep on 66 off 94 with 12 fours to his name.
As of this writing, India have gotten up to 177/3 in 42.1 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal (84* off 103) at the crease, with captain Shubman Gill just joining him in the middle, leading by 154 runs.
Below are the playing XIs of England and India for the fifth Test at The Oval in London:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
