From rural Bihar to Birmingham - Akash Deep’s rise was much tougher than MS Dhoni’s

There is a happy story and a sad story involving the 28-year-old Indian pacer Akash Deep, who starred in a historic win against England in the Test in Birmingham on Sunday. Both tales capture the background he came from. When he was 18, his bedridden father died, and two years later, his brother too passed away. “In my native place, there is a dearth of medical facilities, I lost both of them due to medical negligence,” Akash had told this newspaper. The happy tale has tinges of stark reality as well. When he made his international debut, the people of his village Dehri, in the district of Rohtas, pooled in money to buy a generator so that they could see him bowl uninterrupted by power cuts.

That’s why Akash had to wait till he was 27 to make his debut. That’s why his story doesn’t quite mirror MS Dhoni’s rise: Dhoni came from Ranchi, which is miles ahead in terms of development compared to Dehri. That’s why Akash Deep’s story has the potential to resonate with those real small-towners living with big dreams. By 27, Dhoni was India captain. If there is a parallel, it has to be found with Tamil Nadu’s T Natarajan, who debuted in 2021 in a Test in Australia — he had come from the hinterlands near Salem district and grew up thinking he would become a porter or a weaver. Natarajan could look at his own home state of TN, see and get inspired by cricketers who spoke his tongue. Small-town Bihar doesn’t produce international cricketers. Akash had to move to Bengal to pursue his dream. Both Natarajan and Akash Deep built cricket academies in their regions as soon as they earned some money. “In our village, a boy playing cricket was not a good thing, forget about girls. I consider this as one of my achievements. I am able to change the thought process of people back home,” India’s latest cricketing hero told The Indian Express.

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