Akash Deep: From ₹600-a-day struggles to Test glory!

There’s grit, heartbreak, and triumph wrapped into the journey of 28-year-old Akash Deep — India’s newest pace sensation who helped script a historic Test win against England in Birmingham.

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Born in Dehri, a small village in Bihar’s Rohtas district, Akash’s path was anything but easy. When he was just 18, his bedridden father passed away. Within two years, he lost his elder brother too — both lives claimed, as he says, by medical negligence in a region starved of healthcare.

With dreams too big for the dusty lanes of his village, he turned to tennis ball cricket to survive, earning just ₹600 a day to support his family. And when Bihar’s cricket board was suspended, Akash moved to Bengal — a bold leap of faith to keep his cricketing dreams alive.

Even when he finally made his India debut, power cuts in his village threatened to keep his neighbours from watching him bowl. But his community rallied — pooling money to buy a generator so they could see their boy in blue live his dream.

Akash Deep’s story isn’t just about cricket. It’s about loss, resilience, and belief. It’s not the fairytale of a small-town prodigy — it’s a reminder that even in forgotten corners of the country, greatness can rise. And Akash has just begun.