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India Today
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
Watch: English fan sings a song for Akash Deep after Edgbaston Test heroics
Young Indian pacer Akash Deep received a heartwarming musical tribute from English fans after emerging as the game-changer in the Edgbaston Test. The 28-year-old fast bowler returned with a stunning match haul of 10 wickets, playing a pivotal role in India's emphatic 336-run win in the second Test to level the five-match series helping India thrash England to bounce back in the series, Akash was treated to something truly unexpected - a song in his honour by an English fan outside the stadium. Set to the tune of Let It Be by The Beatles, the tribute was playful, catchy, and deeply symbolic. For a relatively new face in the Indian setup, being serenaded by a local fan on English soil spoke volumes - not just about his bowling, but also about the impression his story had left crowds are known for their sporting songs, especially in football, where almost every star has a chant of their own. Cricket has its own version of that culture too, often driven by the ever-vocal Barmy Army. But it's rare for a visiting player - and a fast bowler at that - to be embraced with such affection, especially so early in his career. The Poms do have a sense of humour : 'Akash Deep Akash Deep Bowling England Out Akash Deep' (In Let It Be tune) Sameer (@BesuraTaansane) July 6, 2025 After losing the series opener at Leeds from what seemed like an unlosable position, Gill-led India mounted a spirited comeback, built on the captain's record-breaking 430 runs across the two innings and the efforts of Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, who made the new ball talk on a flat Edgbaston the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, expectations of India's pace attack had been modest. But Siraj and Akash turned that perception on its head with match-turning spells in both Tendulkar hailed Akash Deep as the "standout bowler" of the match and described his delivery to dismiss Joe Root in the second innings as the "ball of the series." Akash finished with figures of 6 for 99 in the second innings and a match-haul of 10 for 187, while Siraj picked up seven wickets across both innings to help power India to a memorable sister has cancer: Emotional Akash DeepFollowing the match, Akash Deep shared a deeply emotional moment in a post-match interview with JioCinema. Speaking to Cheteshwar Pujara, he revealed that his elder sister had been diagnosed with cancer just two months ago—a detail he had kept to himself throughout the match."I haven't told anyone about this," he said, his voice heavy. "My elder sister is suffering from cancer. It was diagnosed two months ago. She's okay now, she's stable. She would be so happy with my performance. She's gone through so much mentally these past two months. I dedicate this to her.""I just wanted to give her some happiness through my performance," he asked if he had a message for her, Akash replied:"Behen, yeh tumhare liye hai. (Sister, this is for you.) Every time I held the ball, your face came to mind. I just wanted to make you smile. We're all with you."On the field, Akash bowled with heart and hunger. In the final session of Day 4, he gave India the perfect start by removing Ben Duckett and Joe Root. He returned on the fifth morning and picked up right where he left off, dismissing overnight batters Ollie Pope and Harry Brook. On a lifeless pitch that offered little to the pacers, Akash made the ball talk - outbowling even England's much-fancied attack."It's all about staying in the present," he said after the game. "We batted, bowled, and fielded well - all three departments clicked. I think we should just enjoy this win at Edgbaston and live in the moment."- EndsYou May Also Like
News18
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Watch: English Fan Dedicates Unique Song To Akash Deep After Edgbaston Demolition
Last Updated: Akash Deep's 10-wicket haul has made him a hit in England, with a local singer even singing a song for him. Akash Deep is an instant hit in England, not just among pundits and Indian fans who are raving about his special 10-wicket haul in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Edgbaston but also among the locals. After India secured a huge 336-run win to level the series 1-1, an English singer was seen singing a song in his name in the tune of Let It Be from The Beatles. English fans are popular for their sporting songs and chants. In football clubs, almost every important player has a fan-dedicated chant of their own. The cricket fan group Barmy Army also usually comes up with unique ones for several of the local players, but an Indian bowler who's still relatively new in Test cricket getting this popular, this early, is just a sign of the impression he has cast on the world. Watch the song here: Filling the big shoes of the rested Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep found more purchase off the Edgbaston pitch than any other bowler on either side. He used his discipline to create pressure and supple wrists to make the new ball move. It resulted in a spell of 4/88 in the first innings and 6/99 in the second. It helped the 28-year-old enter his name in the history books. He is now only the second Indian bowler in 93 years to take a 10-wicket haul in a Test match in England. His final figures of 10 for 187 are the best by an Indian bowler in a Test match played in England. Indian captain Shubman Gill was delighted to see Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj (who took seven wickets) to step up in Bumrah's absence. 'When your two fast bowlers take 17 wickets, then it becomes easy for the skipper. Bumrah bhai was not there, but the bowlers we have in the squad are capable of taking 20 wickets in a match," Gill told former India batting star Cheteshwar Pujara on JioHotstar after the team's win. First Published: July 07, 2025, 07:57 IST
Time of India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
India vs England 2nd Test: Barmy Army roars as Jamie Smith silences Bharat Army in Edgbaston epic
England's Jamie Smith plays a shot on day three of the second Test. (AP Photo) England's newest batting sensation helps local fan group Barmy Army rediscover voice against 'rivals' Bharat Army BIRMINGHAM: Four days before the series started, Rob Key, the managing director of the England men's cricket team, told TOI that he was looking forward to seeing how England's wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith would respond to India counterpart Rishabh Pant's performances. He called it 'the battle of two entertaining counter-attacking wicketkeepers', and definitely the match-up to watch out for. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! On Friday, one had to be at the Eric Hollies stand, a section of the Edgbaston famous for seating the loudest England fan community — the famed Barmy Army — to understand why Smith is the fastest-rising new cricketing sensation here. Eric Hollies is primarily remembered for spoiling Don Bradman's farewell party, dismissing him for a duck in his last innings to leave the Don stranded just short of a 100-run average in Test cricket. The stand named after him celebrated wildly on Friday as Smith's onslaught spoiled India's party. Poll Did Jamie Smith's performance exceed your expectations? Yes, absolutely! No, I expected more. I had no expectations. The counterpoint to the Barmy Army here is, of course, the Bharat Army, the Indian cricket fan group, which was just starting to clear its throat to sing some anthems. However, Rakesh Patel, the founding member of the Bharat Army, could only look on helplessly as the Eric Hollies stand heaved and Smith went about shredding the Indian attack. Half an hour before lunch, the conversations among both sets of fans started to flow in weird directions. Harry Brook press conference: On Yashasvi Jaiswal DRS controversy, India bowling, getting out on 99 The blows from Smith's bat seemed to be breaking the spirits of the Bharat Army fans, so much so that some muttered that they would be happy to take a draw from this Test. The Headingley horror was still fresh in their minds. England were still 300 runs adrift of India's 587 when a shift in the mood of the England fans became palpable. As Smith swept Ravindra Jadeja through mid-wicket for his century, one of the most entertaining and crucial centuries in England's recent history, the Barmy Army broke into rapturous celebrations. Their usual chants reached near-deafening decibel levels in the Eric Hollies Stand. They don't have a song for Smith yet, as they do for the more established players like Joe Root, Ben Stokes or even Harry Brook. But Smith had offered them enough to improvise. They turned towards the Bharat Army section and started singing, 'You are not singing now!' IND vs ENG 2nd Test: Rain Arrives After Stumps on Day 3 | What It Means for India's Batting As lunch was called and one took leave, Patel assured, 'It gets nasty by day-end. But both sets of fans have set values. No one crosses the line. There could be one or two who may get swayed emotionally but they are pulled back by the rest of the pack.' If it was Smith in the morning session, the Barmy Army sang, 'Harry, Harry Brooook. Harry, Harry Broooook' after the stellar sixth-wicket, 303-run partnership came to an end. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Ben Stokes' batting has gone from a worry to a problem
'Need you now, skipper,' tweeted the Barmy Army, with a praying emoji for good measure, capturing the mood of every watching England fan. Ben Stokes was striding to the crease in the second over of the third day of a Test match that had gone badly wrong for his team. Walking in the other direction was a disbelieving Joe Root, who had contrived to feather a filthy Mohammed Siraj delivery down the leg side to leave England 84 for four, still 503 behind. The stage felt set for Stokes, English cricket's patron saint of lost causes. It is some time since England have needed a performance more from Stokes. And some time since he has provided one. This week marked two years since the last of his 13 Test centuries, a magical 155 in the Ashes at Lord's, fuelled by righteous fury of the Australians' stumping of Jonny Bairstow. Since then, he averages 28, which was also his average last year. This year, his three innings had brought scores of nine, 20 and 33. Worrying. It was to get worse, with Stokes recording the first golden duck of his Test career, in his 202nd innings. It was, in any circumstance, a brute of a delivery to receive first ball, but given Stokes's form and England's match position, it was even more savage. Angled across Stokes, it took the glove as it whistled past his throat and through to Rishabh Pant, who took his second catch of the over. While he was bounced out against Zimbabwe, it was hard to remember Stokes being dismissed in such fashion. The narrative around Stokes across his two years without a ton has centred on his bowling, and his fitness to do so, amid a chronic knee injury and two torn hamstrings. He has worked outrageously hard on his physical fitness in a bid to reclaim his full status as an all-rounder, and a key member of England's attack. Based on his bowling in the first three Tests of this summer, that has been achieved, which is a fine feat at 34. Ben Stokes goes first ball! 😲 Siraj strikes twice in 2 Balls! — Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 4, 2025 But perhaps the focus on his bowling has come at a cost to his batting. England's approach to rehabilitating injured bowlers – Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood – is to build them up in the nets, not in matches for their county or the Lions. Archer will return to Test cricket having played just one first-class game. Stokes went into the first Test of the summer against Zimbabwe without having played at all for six months, then declined a game for the Lions against India A. Bowling might be about physical robustness, which can be built in the gym and nets, but the other side of the Stokes package, batting, is about rhythm, which can surely only be achieved in the middle. Stokes admitted before this game that he was experiencing some ring-rust. At Headingley, he was scratchy in the first innings, then strange in the second, compulsively reverse-sweeping Ravindra Jadeja until he was inevitably dismissed playing that shot with victory in sight. Without wishing to sound overly old-fashioned, Stokes might simply not be playing enough cricket. He is virtually unique in the world game, in that he only really plays one format, Test cricket, as he is in effect in white-ball international retirement, and is barely interested in the franchise world. But other Test specialists play some first-class cricket to build up to the biggest events, but Stokes eschews them. Perhaps it is time for Stokes to consider dropping down a place in the order to No 7, where he batted on the tour of New Zealand in December to accommodate Ollie Pope at No 6 while he kept wicket. There are three reasons this would be a good idea. First, is that Stokes had success there, averaging 53, including a vital, gutsy 80 that helped set up a series-opening win in Christchurch. Second is the sheer quality of Jamie Smith, who stroked Siraj's hat-trick ball for four and played a remarkable innings that confirmed the suspicion that he is simply too good to bat No 7. The third is the most important reason. If Stokes is to play a full role as a bowler, especially on pitches this flat, he needs to manage himself physically. Captaining is exhausting enough, particularly when you do it with the fiddly energy Stokes does. Add in the burden of more than 20 overs per innings, and every minute's rest helps. In the early days of his career, the theory was that Stokes would grow with responsibility; if you batted him at No 8, he would bat like a tailender; bat him at No 5, he would bat like a batsman. During his true peak as a batsman, between 2019 and 2020, Stokes batted No 5, and reached the top three of the ICC's Test batting rankings. He now sneaks into the top 40. Stokes has so much authority in his side that the removal of some responsibility might actually be helpful. The good news for Stokes is that across the second half of this match, he will receive another opportunity to locate that elusive rhythm, and help his team out of the deep hole they find themselves in.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
India bat England into submission as Stokes' threadbare attack drags its feet
The sun shone, the wind blew, the grass grew, and India batted. And batted. And batted. They batted on so long that summer's roses had budded, bloomed and withered again before they were finished. Excited little kids who had taken seats in the family stand first thing in the morning left it as jaded old-age pensioners in the evening. It was even rumoured that a man who had come up from London to catch the end of the innings was able to use the newly finished HS2. Among all their other achievements India's batsmen even silenced the Barmy Army, so that by the very end the volume in the Hollies Stand was reduced to the sort of somnolent hum usually heard at Lord's. England's bowlers visibly aged too as the innings went on. Brydon Carse seemed to only have one working leg by the time it was over, Chris Woakes, who only bowled seven overs, all of them first thing in the morning, had apparently slipped quietly into retirement while no one was looking, and even Ben Stokes gave up flagellating himself. Among the quicks only Josh Tongue was still going, rolling in from the pavilion end like some decrepit trebuchet being wheeled up to hurl boulders at the walls of Harlech castle in the seventh year of the siege. At the other end, Shoaib Bashir bowled more overs in this one innings than he has done in all his last 12 months for Somerset. Time was when a lot of Test cricket was played at this sort of tempo, but it's been a while since we've a seen a game like it in England and, unless you've had the misfortune to be following the last couple of rounds of the County Championship, it takes some readjusting to get used to the slower rhythm. Before this series, we hadn't even had a five-day game since the Ashes back in 2023. India's was the longest team innings anyone has played against England in this country since Stokes took over as captain. You have to go all the way back to 2014, and the first Test against a very different iteration of the India team, to find one that went on longer. It's been coming. England's attack looked pretty thin for stretches of both the Tests they've already played this season. And in these conditions it was left absolutely threadbare. They are partly to blame themselves. They had boundary ropes brought in tight, and Stokes said before the game that England have asked the groundstaff to produce these pitches for them, although he must have hoped for one with a bit more 'bounce and carry', as he put it, than an abandoned mattress that's been left on the corner in the rain then peed on by the neighbourhood strays. Edgbaston's head groundsman, Gary Barwell, posted an insistent message on X before the match talking about how few draws there have been here recently, which made him sound like John Cleese's pet-shopkeeper in the dead parrot sketch. In the past, Stokes has been able to find a way to conjure the wickets regardless. He tried here, there were umbrella fields, with five men arrayed in a rainbow behind the wicket, and wall fields, with five in a line from mid-off to mid-on. Harry Brook got to show off his medium pace, delivered from a full run, and his off-spin, delivered from a three-step one, and even alternated between them from one ball to the next. But the pitch was unforgiving, and India's batsmen so pitilessly committed to their strategy that even the No 9, Akash Deep, who came in when the score was 574, got a quick lecture from his captain on batting responsibly after he had played and missed at a delivery. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion There is an undeniable logic to it (despite, ahem, the impression eager Guardian readers have got from yesterday's edition). Stokes' England like to play the game at such a lick that they give the opposition a lot of time to work with, and India have decided to use it to try and bat them out of the match. The question for them is whether they have enough bowling to take 20 wickets on this pitch themselves given the way they had sandbagged their middle order with all-rounders. The key confrontation in the game may yet turn out to be between England and their own public insistence that they'd rather lose a game by trying to win it than play for a draw.
