India’s ‘who-would-have-thought’ series of pleasant surprises continued deep into the fifth Test of this engrossing series. Who would have thought that nightwatchman Akash Deep would score 66 on a bright morning at The Oval? Who would have thought opener Yashasvi Jaiswal would just hit three fours, seven fewer than Akash Deep, in an incredible first session?
This was a nightmarish morning for England and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. The mysterious behaviour of English pitches continued to intrigue outsiders. On Day 2, the Oval pitch had witnessed the fall of 15 wickets and those getting out included steady and safe batsmen like Joe Root, KL Rahul, Ollie Pope and Sai Sudharsan. On Day 3, a night-watchman with dodgy technique was having a ball, the demons that resided in the wicket had checked out this morning.
From the time Akash Deep swung left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell, brought in for a change of ends for the pacers in the day’s first over, for two fours, India’s agenda had been laid on the table. They would take chances and rattle the English bowlers.
A maiden international 5️⃣0️⃣ for Akash Deep 👏#SonySportsNetwork #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/O1wAt9ecyg
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) August 2, 2025
Night-watchmen are cricket’s enigmatic characters – they mostly get the graveyard shift when the lights are fading and their main task is to take most of the strike to shield the main batsman.
They are tasked to take a bullet for those whose batting lives are much more important than them. Their brief is to survive the day and in case they do, they get a reward. The team gives them a licence to throw the bat around, hit a few agricultural shots, regale the crowd and the mates in the dressing room. That was the reaction when Akash Deep hit Bethell to the area that is the favourite of all night- watchmen, or those who don’t care about the angle of the elbow when batting – the cow’s corner.
Once the pacers came into the attack, Akash Deep shelved his aggression for a while. He would now hang back in the crease and wait for the ball to come to him. There was no effort to take the forward stride to go and meet the ball. In that period of play, his bread-and-butter shot was the poke to the point region – another pet stroke of survival for non-bona fide batsmen.
New-ball bowlers find it extremely difficult to bowl to batsmen with a non-textbook batting approach, but good hands. The pacers are used to bowling at batsmen who come forward or go on the back foot to defend balls. But those who stay in the crease and try to work the ball are difficult to deal with.
His own way
Batsmen like Akash Deep may not have the footwork but are blessed with the reflexes to keep the ball away from the stumps. He did the same when dealing with Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson. Nightwachmen also need the kindness of fielders to remain at the crease. England, these last couple of days, have been charitable. So when Akash Deep edged a Tongue ball to the slips – Zak Crawley couldn’t hold on. That chance brought out the real batsman in Akash Deep.
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Indian dressing room cheers as Akash Deep scores his maiden half century. (AP and X)
Having spent an hour at the crease and already hit four boundaries, Akash Deep was now feeling at home at his unfamiliar batting position of No.4. The first sign of the new-found confidence came when India’s lead swelled to 100, it was 23 overnight. It was merely a flick to square leg but had the finesse of a top-order batsman. Akash Deep’s eyes were set, he was following the swing of the ball, leaving the ones that went away and defending those on the stumps.
The pokes square of the wicket were all gone, now Akash Deep was cutting the ball powerfully. Once he even hit an audacious slap over the point fielder. All this while, non-striker Jaiswal was happy to give Akash Deep the strike, as the latter scored runs and frustrated England. After a few blazing drives, he reached his half-century with a wild pull with the aim of sending the ball over the mid-wicket boundary. He didn’t connect well but the ball ran to square-leg for a four.
Every time a lower-order batsman scores, the smiles in the dressing room are broader and there is amusement in the balcony. So as Akash Deep threw strong punches in the air to celebrate his fifty, skipper Shubman Gill beamed while clapping. Even coach Gautam Gambhir had a smile on his face.
Akash Deep would eventually get out for 66, a short ball from Overton hitting the shoulder of his bat and ballooning into the hands of the point fielder. India, by then, had a lead of about 150. In this tight game, the nightwatchman had gone beyond his call of duty. Expected to hurt England with the ball, he had done it with the bat.
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Who would have thought that Sai Sudharshan getting out late on Day 2 would prove to be the turning point of the series for India?
