Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra

Real Name-Ashish Diwan Singh Nehra
Nickname-Nehra Ji
Profession-Indian Cricketer (Fast-medium bowler)
Age-39 Years
Date of Birth-29 April 1979
Birth place-Delhi, India
Nationality-Indian

Career

Ashish Nehra played for Delhi in domestic cricket. He was one of the fastest bowlers at the early days. Impressed with his performance, the selectors gave him a chance in 1999 when he made his Test Debut against Sri Lanka. However, prolonged injury has often ruled him out of the longer formats of the game and he last played his Test Match in 2004. He made his ODI debut in 2001 and came into prominence during the 2003 World Cup when India finished runners up. His Career looked all but over and he played his last match in 2011 in ODI. However, he continued to perform in the IPL and domestic matches. He has played for five franchises in IPL including Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad. He got a surprise call back in T20 side of the country and since then he impressed the selectors with age defying performances.
                                                                   Nehra made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1999 and his ODI debut against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2001. On his Test debut, Nehra started out well, dismissing Marvan Atapattu early but then failed to pick up any more wickets. Similarly, he dismissed Alistair Campbell with only his 2nd ball in ODIs. He was also part of the Indian team's run at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. It was there against England, that he got his career-best ODI figures of six for 23. His performance in the other matches in the World Cup were also noteworthy.

However inconsistency and successive back and ankle injuries have prevented him from cementing his place in the Indian team. His career statistics are better in ODI cricket than in Test cricket, but with 144 ODI wickets at an average of 30.54 his average is higher(lesser the best) than all three of his main competitors for fast bowling places in the Indian team – Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, who all have bowling averages below 30. The new crop of fast bowlers like Munaf Patel, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma also add to the competition. Nevertheless, Nehra completed recovery from a bowel injury in March 2006 and tried to make a comeback into the Indian team. He recalled to the ODI squad for the tour of West Indies in June 2009 after 4 years due to an injury to Zaheer Khan.

In 2011 Cricket World Cup, Nehra played his first game vs South Africa. He was expensive giving away 65 runs during 8.4 wicketless overs. He gave away 16 runs in 4 balls when he had to defend 13 runs in the last over. After this, many thought Nehra's world cup was over. He was, however, a surprise inclusion against Pakistan in the semi-final ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin. Nehra redeemed himself by being the most economical bowler for his side taking 2 wickets in 10 overs for a mere 33 runs as India beat Pakistan by 29 runs. He however could not play the final due to a fractured finger on his right hand.
After recovering from his injury, Nehra made himself available for the 2011 ODI series in England; after being ignored, he commented that he was 'deeply hurt'. Despite the backing of former Indian bowler Manoj Prabhakar and a decent Ranji season, he was ignored for the subsequent tour of Australia as well. Recently, Nehra made a national comeback in the T20 squad for India's tour of Australia 2016, the Asia Cup and the world T20. After performing against Australia and Sri Lanka, he was promoted to India's main bowler at the age of 36.