[WATCH] Former players react to incident between Akash Deep and Ben Duckett during ENG vs IND 5th Test

The incident happened just after Akash Deep dismissed the England left-handed opening batter, Ben Duckett, who, before that, was smashing the Bengal pacer all around the park. A few balls ago, the southpaw nailed the bowler for a huge six before getting an outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper, as Deep walked up to the batter and put his arm around the batter's shoulder.

The umpires had a word with the bowler after that, while KL Rahul tried to pull him off the moment. The former England captain, Michael Atherton, didn’t enjoy the incident at all. He questions whether a bowler would have thought of doing the same with a feisty batter, and it was excellent from Ben to fully avoid any heat in that moment.

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‘Can you imagine doing that to Viv Richards? Or anyone? I would have hated that, having put an arm around me after dismissing me. Stay out of my way. This is a serious point. I understand it was in good nature, and I love giving players maximum leeway on the field.’ Atherton expressed on Sky Sports Cricket.

Watch: Former players react to incident between Akash Deep and Ben Duckett during ENG vs IND 5th Test

‘Because it’s an emotional and passionate game, I like to see them getting stuck in and don’t love to see the match referees always. But it’s a non-contract spot. Something like that will end in a problem. So this is something that the match referee had to stamp out.’ Atherton felt that the match referee would need to discuss with the pacer.

"If Athers had put his hand around me getting me out, I would've said 'Get out of the way!'" 😅

Ravi Shastri and Michael Atherton share their thoughts on the incident between Ben Duckett and Akash Deep 💭 pic.twitter.com/UyQzCX6uJL

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 2, 2025

Even Ravi Shastri, the former Indian coach, supported the view and felt that it would have gone in an ugly way had Ben not handled the situation in the right way.

‘No physical contract. What it may lead to is that Duckett might have been thinking something else at that moment in time. Another player with the feisty character wouldn’t have liked it and could have done something that he would have regretted. Just because it has been seen by millions, the match referee would be forced to take action because of the rules.’ Shastri observed.