Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis is impressed with Akash Deep and heaped praise on the 25-year old fast bowler from Bengal.

The former South African skipper was impressed with Deep’s extra pace and stated it is pleasing to note that young fast bowlers are coming through the ranks.

Deep is still young in his First-class career but he has impressed with his skills. The right-arm pacer has scalped 45 wickets in 11 first-class matches at a fine average of 18.86. The Bengal fast bowler has played 21 T20 matches in which he has snared 26 wickets at a splendid economy rate of 6.42.

Akash was roped in for his base price of INR 20 lakhs by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022 mega auction.

“DK (Dinesh Karthik) was really good but I was impressed the most with Akash Deep. He was excellent with the new ball, bowled very good hard lengths. I was surprised by his pace as well. It is very pleasing for us to have young fast bowlers stepping up,” said du Plessis.

On the other hand, Harshal Patel was brought for INR 10.75 crores by RCB in the IPL auction. Patel had scalped 32 wickets in the previous season to finish as the highest wicket-taker and he is happy with his preparation before the season.

“Very clinical skills on show. I’m very happy with the way things panned out. We keep the intensity going and slowly get into the tournament,” Harshal said.

Meanwhile, the RCB director of cricket was also happy with the team’s intra-squad game but feels intensity could improve.

“It was a good exercise. Fielding was a decent standard but we can improve the intensity. Overall, a very valuable exercise and a really good squad day,” Hesson noted about the game.

RCB will begin their IPL 2022 campaign on March 27 against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.