Nehra reinvents himself to stay relevant in T20s

 The last time Ashish Nehra played for India was against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup semifinal in Mohali where he took 2/33 in his 10 overs. Nehra fractured the fingers of his right hand in five places during that match and missed the final in Mumbai. Since then he hasn’t played for India, and most probably will never.

An injury-prone body and advancing age, he is 35 now, means that the selectors even in a crisis situation will look beyond Nehra. But the Delhi veteran, one of the craftiest of Indian pacers, has kept himself relevant in the Indian Premier League, the demands of which suit the limited workload that his body can endure. Nehra, by and large, has given up playing first-class cricket for Delhi and North Zone – he didn’t figure in a single first-class domestic game this season – and his only competitive tournament before this edition’s IPL was the five one-day matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi.

While the left-armer has bowled several memorable spells for India, his frequent injuries and long recovery breaks never allowed him to realise his true potential. With the India recall becoming progressively difficult, Nehra made the smart move of preserving his body and began concentrating only on limited overs cricket. While many of his contemporaries have either faded away or struggling to stay afloat, Nehra continues to impress. 

Occasionally he can clock just over 140 kmph and coupled with his bottomless tricks – slower ones, yorkers, sharp inswingers and such – he is redefining the art of bowling in T20s. His performance (4-0-10-4) for the Chennai Super Kings against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday was a fine demonstration of seam bowling on a batting paradise. The finest tribute for his show against Challengers came from his old buddy from Delhi – a certain Virender Sehwag who tweeted saying ‘old is gold’ among other things.

Nehra is also fortunate that he is playing for a team that knows better than anybody else how to maximise a player’s talent. While nobody gave a second glance at the bowler during the IPL auction in February 2014, CSK bought him for his base price of Rs 2 crore. And they have harnessed his abilities to bolster their young and inexperienced attack. Not only does he play a crucial role with the ball but he also guides the young bowlers, passing his wisdom gathered over one and half decades of competitive cricket.

“He is a guy who always works really hard on his fitness,” said Suresh Raina. “He does half an hour pool session, one hour of gym and a proper massage. He has been amazing for many years for the Indian team and he bowled really well for CSK; he’s the most experienced bowler we have. He knows when to attack and when not to. We always enjoy each other’s success, and I think that is the key to his bowling. He always gives good suggestions to Mohit (Sharma), Ishwar (Pandey) and others.”