Former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan has backed Akash Deep to be India’s third seamer in Australia Test series. With Mohammed Shami not fully fit yet, Deep can be India’s third seamer after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

The right-arm pacer from Bengal returned with two wickets in the opening Test match against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, which India won by a huge margin of 280 runs. 

Deep also returned with nine wickets in the Duleep trophy match, including a five wicket haul. Furthermore, 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.

“There is no doubt about that. If you look at the Indian team’s playing XI and there are talks about three seamers, Akash Deep is the third. So obviously when we talk about Australia, about that tour, we could see Akash Deep part of the team,” said Zaheer on Cricbuzz.

Zaheer praised Deep for attacking the fourth-stump line and backed the rookie fast bowler to find more success at the top level.

“Like how Siraj approaches it. He attacks the stump a lot fourth stump, off stump. The more deliveries you put around that on good length consistently, and it is important in the Test match level. Akash Deep has all of that and he showed he has that aggression needed for a pacer. He has good potential and if he gets chances, his self-belief will increase and he will contribute to the team,” he added.

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