'Manoj Tiwary told 'if you impress Virat Kohli, you will play the IPL' - Akash Deep recalls how he was picked by RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Akash Deep has opened up about his stint with the team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 and also revealed how he tried to impress the former RCB skipper and senior batter Virat Kohli to get a chance to play in the IPL.

The right-arm pacer is still in his early days as he has played only five matches in the IPL and has scalped the same amount of wickets at an average of 41.0. Akash Deep also talked about his time with Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood in the RCB camp and said that he learned quite a lot from him and never left the Australian pacer alone.

Hailing from a small town in Bihar, the right-arm pacer shifted to Delhi in 2016 to live with his elder sister. Akash stayed there for a few months before a friend advised him to come to Kolkata and play club cricket. The pacer said that he got match fees for playing cricket in Kolkata which was a new thing for him.

‘Everything is a dream’ – Akash Deep on sharing a dressing room with Virat Kohli

Before joining RCB, Akash Deep had a long conversation with Bengal’s senior batter Manoj Tiwary, who told him to impress Virat Kohli in the nets.

“Manoj bhaiyya said, ‘Virat is India’s captain, and if you manage to impress him, you will get to play in the IPL next season and might play for India as well because you have all the ingredients to become a good fast bowler.’ That was my goal, and I managed to do well in the practice matches and was later picked in the auction,” Akash Deep was quoted by The Indian Express.

“As a kid, when we used to watch the likes of Kohli and Dhoni on TV, I used to think whether I would ever get a chance to meet them in my life. In my mind, they were like superheroes. And from the place I come from, in my wildest imagination, I never thought that someday, I would end up sharing the dressing room with Kohli. Sab sapna hai (Everything is a dream),” he added.