Akash Deep was emotional as he dedicated his match-winning performance to his sister who has been battling cancer for the last two months. Every time I held the ball, I thought of her, he said.
The 28-year-old Bengal pacer took 10 wickets in the match as India won by 336 runs at Edgbaston. The pitch was tough for bowlers but he delivered his career-best.
I haven’t told anyone but my sister was diagnosed with cancer two months ago. She’ll be happy with my performance and hopefully this will give her some joy, he told Cheteshwar Pujara on ‘Jio Hotstar’ trying to keep his composure. Each time I picked up the ball I thought of her. This is for her. I want to tell her, ‘We are all here for you, Sis’.
About the match, he said he was happy that his planning worked well. I wanted to hit the seam hard on the length so the ball could move. For Joe Root I wanted to bowl wide of the crease and make the ball shape away. For Harry Brook I knew he likes to play off the backfoot. I wanted to hit the seam hard on a fuller length and make it move in, he explained his strategy for taking wickets.
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Akash prefers to focus on the present. He wants to enjoy his winning performance and not think about Lord’s where the next Test will be from July 10-14. I haven’t thought about my strategy for Lord’s yet but it won’t be too different from what I did here. Some days it will work some days it won’t. We will stick to our strengths and trust our methods, he said.
