• Home
  • Player Stories
  • Playing Cricket Was A Crime When Akash Deep Recalled His Childhood Struggle

"Playing Cricket Was A Crime…" When Akash Deep Recalled His Childhood Struggle



Akash Deep in Test cricket and with his mother (Source: AP Photos and ESPNCricinfo/X.com)Akash Deep in Test cricket and with his mother (Source: AP Photos and ESPNCricinfo/X.com)

Akash Deep made his Test debut against England in February 2024 and impressed immediately with a three-fer. Since then, he has done well in almost all the games he has played, but a breakthrough performance was missing. Now, in the Edgbaston Test, the pacer from Bihar has finally delivered with wickets in both the innings.

Akash Deep's Father Hesitance Towards Cricket

Now, amidst this performance, let's take a look at Akash Deep's old remarks on his childhood struggle in home state, Bihar. Akash Deep, while talking to the Economic Times in February 2024, revealed that his father did not like him playing cricket, and it was looked like a crime in his state.

Akash Deep, though, did not blame his father and added that economic conditions dictated behaviour of his parents. He stated that cricket did not offer a bright future at that time in Bihar, and so his parents hesitated to let their child take up sport as a career option. As a result, Akash Deep had to play cricket secretly during his childhood.

"My father didn't like me playing cricket...playing cricket was a crime...but I don't blame them...cricket didn't offer a bright future from where I came. I used to play cricket secretly," Akash Deep as quoted by Economic Times.

Apart from playing restrictions, Akash Deep also suffered personal losses when his father and older brother died within a span of six months. He did not give up though and eventually shifted to Bengal to pursue his cricketing journey. After years of toil at the domestic level, the pacer got his first breakthrough in international cricket during England tour of India in 2024, and has gone from strength to strength from thereon.