The fast bowler’s weather beaten frame betrays his years of strife. No wonder he looks older than his 27 years. On Friday, he bowled with control and venom with the new ball, like his life depended on it. Maybe it does, for his is a life shaken by tragedy and shaped by tenacity.
In a season of heart warming Test debuts for India, Akash followed Sarfaraz Khan’s emotional moment in Rajkot with one of his own here on Friday, getting the cap from Rahul Dravid before the day’s play. His mother, who travelled 300 km from her village, looked on with pride and let the tears flow. It was a shame that Akash’s father, a physical education teacher in a government school in Sasaram (Bihar), who had strict objections to his cricketing ambitions and thought him a bit of a wastrel, was not there to see the memorable bowling display that followed.
Some precious tips from Jasprit Bumrah, as Akash revealed after the day’s play, also came in handy as England’s top order swayed to his beat.
He also said coach Dravid wanted to listen to his story, about how it was his father’s death, and the death of his elder brother soon after, that nearly derailed his ambitions but also steeled his resolve to become a cricketer.
“Ek hi year mey apney papa aur bhai dono ko khoney ke baad, mujhe aisa laga ki mujhe zindagi mey kuch karna chahiye (after I lost both my father and my brother in the same year, I thought I have to do something with my life).”
From Bihar to Bengal to the national team, from tape-ball cricket to red-ball heroism, from odd jobs for daily pay to Test cricket opportunity, it all played on Akash’s mind as he dedicated his debut to his father.
“Mere paas khoney ke liye kuch bhi nehi tha, paaney ke liye sab kuch tha (I had nothing left to lose, everything to gain). Then I went out to play and Bengal supported me. I dedicate this to my father, whose dream it was that I do something with my life.”
The one aspect that stands out is his lack of a conventional cricketing background and complete absence of role models. “From my childhood, I knew nothing about cricket. Where I come from, there is no cricket. I played tennis-ball cricket after 2007. I started understanding proper cricket after 2016, when I left home. Since that time, I’ve followed Mohammed Shami and Kagiso Rabada’s careers.”
Interestingly, Friday’s performance follows on the back of some special tips from Bumrah. “In domestic cricket, our length is a bit fuller. Coaches, captain and Bumrah bhai told me that at international level, the length is shorter since batters look to chase the ball.”
That no-ball off which he uprooted Zak Crawley’s off-stump, though, looked like a moment when fate had again intervened to thwart his plans. But Akash is nothing if not resilient. “I wasn’t too disappointed because I knew someone or the other would get him out. But when he started hitting Siraj, I felt bad. Would the team suffer because of me? So there was some tension ,” he said.
“He is a bit faster than it looks,” Crawley himself said a bit sheepishly. “With the new ball, it was nipping a lot and nipping quickly. It was seaming. Too difficult. It was easier with the old ball.”
Akash didn’t impress as much with the old ball and even struggled at times with his control once it began reversing, so that’s another box to tick off. Indian cricket likes fairytales but what it actually rewards is consistency.
After just one day of Test cricket, Akash feels older and wiser. “I was just thinking about bowling in the right areas. A fast bowler’s life be – comes simple if he just focuses on the right areas,” he said.
It’s the right philosophy, for the journey has just begun.