India pacer Akash Deep, who came into the team after the management’s decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah, produced some absolute rippers in the second innings of the Edgbaston Test. As England lost three wickets for the score of 72 runs at stumps on Day 4, Akash was credited with two of the three dismissals that took place. In fact, both the scalps that Akash took were bowled, with his peach of a delivery to Joe Root leaving the cricket world stunned.
It isn’t often that a batter of Joe Roo’s class gets undone by a pacer. But, the England veteran completely failed to play the incoming delivery from Akash. However, a bit of a controversy was triggered after the dismissal took place.
Though the umpire ruled Root out, commentators and certain fans on social media have called Akash’s delivery ‘illegal’, suggesting it
Former England cricketer Alison Mitchell, while doing commentary on BBC TMS, said: “The delivery from Akash Deep – which we said was wide off the crease – his foot on the back crease is out. Looks like by about two inches. Maybe a little bit more. But comfortably. So his back foot, which needs to land within the line, just taps about two inches over the line. Not picked up!”
While Akash’s foot was definitely inside the popping crease, he has been accused of touching the return crease with his backfoot. A section of fans, hence, are upset with the officials for not catching the incident.
Akash deep crashes through joe root’s defense #AkashDeep #INDvsENG #BCCI pic.twitter.com/CczPnWrBsY
— Samaresh maity (@Samares66435304) July 5, 2025
What MCC Law 21.5.1 Says:
“For a delivery to be fair in respect of the feet, in the delivery stride (21.5.1) the bowler’s back foot must land within and not touch the return crease appertaining to his/her stated mode of delivery. (21.5.2) the bowler’s front foot must land with some part of the foot, whether grounded or raised – on the same side of the imaginary line joining the two middle stumps as the return crease described in 21.5.1, and – behind the popping crease.”
Former India coach Ravi Shastri, who was also in the commentary box, suggested that since Akash’s foot landed inside the return crease, the delivery was a fair one.
Root had a forgettable outing in the Birmingham Test. In the first innings, he faced 46 balls and added just 22 runs to the team’s total. In the second innings, he could only add 6 runs.