India’s night watchman Akash Deep scored a gritty 66 runs in the 3rd Day of the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England on Saturday. This was his highest ever Test knock and also his maiden half century in the longest format.
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As soon as he reached the milestone, the Indian dressing room led by captain Shubman Gill erupted into cheers with even coach Gautam Gambhir breaking into a smile. In his stay in the middle, the seamer smashed 12 boundaries in 94 balls. The innings ended after he was caught by Gus Atkinson off a delivery by Jamie Overton but by then, Akash had helped india to a steady position.
Akash’s 66 comes second in the list of top scores by an Indian night watchman, just behind Amit Mishra’s 84 runs against England at the Oval in 2011.
This has been a rather eventful match for Akash Deep after he missed out on the last Test at Manchester due to an injury. He grabbed headlines on Friday when he after ended a rampaging opening partnership between Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley by dismissing the latter, he gave the English batter a send off.
Words fall short for a memorable knock! 👏🏻#TeamIndia‘s nightwatchman, #AkashDeep raises his first-ever Test fifty & the timing couldn’t be better! 🙌🏻🇮🇳#ENGvIND 👉 5th TEST, DAY 3 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar 👉 https://t.co/3V6YCy3sHy pic.twitter.com/QPlnTUA5wy
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 2, 2025
Deep punched the air after getting Duckett caught behind before putting his arm around the batter’s shoulder and walking a few steps with him.
They also seemed to briefly exchange a few words in those seconds before KL Rahul pulled Deep away. Umpire Ahsan Raza also had a word with Deep after that. It was the last ball of the over and Shardul Thakur could be seen having a chat with Deep while he was fielding at the boundary the next over.
The incident was only one of quite a few heated moments between the Indian and English players during the latter side’s innings, something that has been throughout the five-Test series that the hosts lead 2-1. After the Duckett incident, Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna got into a lengthy battle. The pair could be seen saying visibly unfriendly things to each other as Root crossed Krishna while taking a run. There was also a long steely stare shared between the two in Krishna’s next over after the pacer. The umpires ended up having a word with Krishna as well.
