Former Indian bowling coach Paras Mhambrey has backed Akash Deep’s selection for the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. Deep picked two wickets in the opening Test match against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

Furthermore, Deep was the pick of the Indian bowlers on the opening day of the second Test match against the Tigers at Green Park, Kanpur as he bagged two scalps. 

Deep also returned with nine wickets in the Duleep trophy match, including a five-wicket haul. Moreover, the 27-year-old bagged three wickets on debut against England, earlier in the year. Deep had accounted for Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, and Ollie Pope as he returned with figures of 3-83.

Paras Mhambrey said while talking to TOI, “Akash has done a lot of bowling in domestic cricket. He understands what needs to be done. He also relies a lot on seam movement. You need that kind of bowler in Australia who can nip it around off the seam.”

Mhambrey also believes that Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will hold the key for India against Australia.

“We are lucky to have someone like Bumrah who loves to play Test cricket. But Bumrah and Shami need to be rested in the middle of a long series. That’s when the strategic selection comes into play.”

The former Indian bowling coach believes Yash Dayal is someone who can hit the deck and can find success on bouncy Australian pitches.

“With Ashwin in the team and hopefully Kuldeep Yadav, a left-armer could be a strategic pick to create rough outside the off-stump. I feel Arshdeep maybe needs a bit more time to grow with the red ball but Dayal looks as someone who could hit the deck.”

“First things first, you need bowlers who can hit the deck hard and derive seam movement in Australia. The Kookaburra balls are best to bowl within the first 30 overs. After that the conditions become very flat,” Mhambrey added.

The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.