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Fast bowler Akash Deep made his India debut on Friday, February 23, as India hosted England for the fourth Test at JSCA Stadium, Ranchi. The Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer left his mark as he almost stunned England opener Zak Crawley. Earlier during the day, England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. Deep, who received his Test cap from India's Head Coach, Rahul Dravid, went on to make his mark in the first few overs.
The West Bengal pacer gave the visitors an early shock with an early scalp by getting Crawley bowled in the fourth over of the game. However, just when the speedster began celebrating his milestone, the umpire’s alarm left him disheartened. It turned out that he had bowled a no-ball, cutting his celebrations short. The youngster was left devastated knowing that he had overstepped and was denied the chance of getting an early wicket, despite having thrown a terrific inswinger that directly wrecked into the stumps.
Indian cricket enthusiasts took to social media to empathize with the youngster; this is how they reacted:
Fans laud Akash Deep's heroics with ball in 4th England Test
However, the 27-year-old was quick enough to rectify his mistakes and went on to dismiss Crawley in the 12th over. Before that, he had already dismissed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in his previous over. Indians lauded Deep’s performance on social media:
By the end of 40 overs, England lost five wickets with 150 runs on scoreboard.
