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.[2]
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.[3]
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 INR 600 per day and he would earn around 20,000 per month playing tennis-ball matches.[2]
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.[4] 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.[3]
In February 2024, he received his maiden Test callup for the last three Tests for the home Test series against England.[2][12] He received the news of his selection while he was playing the 2023–24 Ranji Trophy representing Bengal.[13]
References
^"Akash Deep". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
