England’s fast bowler Josh Tongue admitted that India’s night-watchman Akashdeep pushed the home side on backfoot on Day 3 of fifth Test at The Oval. He came in to bat on Day 2 and held the fort with his magnificent innings as he scored 66 off 94 balls. His innings included 12 boundaries and he came in as a big game-changer against England, leaving all the bowlers frustrated.
Akashdeep’s crucial batting not only added crucial runs but also flipped the momentum in India’s favour. The English players expected his stay on crease to be brief but he surprised everyone and stitched a 107-runs partnership with young Indian batter Yashasvi Jaiswal.
England’s bowling lineup was left absolutely frustrated seeing Akashdeep bat so magnificently, even Josh Tongue revealed in the press-conference that the team wanted to get Deep out as soon as possible. Tongue also mentioned about their bowling strategy to counter India’s strong batting lineup.
“Yeah, it’s obviously frustrating,” Tongue said at the post-day press conference.
“It’s happened to me many a times where we just sort of said as a bowling unit, just bowl your best ball for as long as you can and hopefully either nick one or you bowled him,” he added.
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With maiden half-century in the Test format, Akashdeep joined a prestigious club – he became the 4th Indian player to register a Test fifty while batting at number four. Adding to his personal milestones, he is also the 12th player in history to score a half-century and also claim a ten-wicket haul in a single tour of England.
