India Test newcomer Akash Deep has been given a special welcome by India star batter Virat Kohli. Pacer Akash Deep, who has been picked in India’s squad for the first Test against Bangladesh, took to Instagram to reveal that Kohli had gifted one of his bats ahead of the series. Notably, Akash Deep is not the first player to receive such a gift, with the likes of Rinku Singh and Vijaykumar Vyshak revealing recently that even they had been lucky enough to be gifted so by Kohli.
Posting a picture of one of Kohli’s MRF-sponsored bats, Akash Deep captioned, “Thanq bhaiya (Thank you big brother)” on Instagram.
The pacer is also teammates with Virat Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) since 2022, during which the team has reached the playoff stage twice.
Akash Deep made his debut against England in the fourth Test of five earlier in 2024. He made a tremendous impression on debut, running through the England top order in the first innings. He picked three wickets, dismissing Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope.
It remains the only Test of his career.
After showing continued promise in the domestic circuit, Akash Deep has been given another shot in whites by India. With Mohammed Shami still not injured, Deep has been named.
Meanwhile, Kohli will return to red-ball action for the first time since January 2024, when he played against South Africa. That has been Kohli’s only Test match all year, as he chose to miss the home series against England due to the birth of his second child.
Kohli is aiming to become the fourth Indian to reach 9,000 Test runs. The 35-year-old is only 152 runs away from the milestone. He would join Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in an elite list of Indians to reach the run tally.