Ashish Nehra

Ashish

Personal information
Full name	Ashish Diwan Singh Nehra
Born	(1979-04-29) 29 April 1979 Delhi, India
Batting	Right
Bowling	Left arm fast
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	India (1999-2017)
Test debut (cap 220)	24 February 1999 v Sri Lanka
Last Test	13 April 2004 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 137)	21 June 2001 v Zimbabwe
Last ODI	30 March 2011 v Pakistan
ODI shirt no.	64
T20I debut (cap 25)	9 December 2009 v Sri Lanka
Last T20I	1 November 2017 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997–2017	Delhi
2008	Mumbai Indians
2009–2010	Delhi Daredevils
2011–2012	Pune Warriors India
2013	Delhi Daredevils
2014–2015	Chennai Super Kings
2016–2017	Sunrisers Hyderabad
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I Matches 17 120 27 Runs scored 80 141 28 Batting average 5.50 6.08 5.60 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0 Top score 19 24 12* Balls bowled 3447 5609 588 Wickets 44 157 34 Bowling average 42.40 31.56 22.29 5 wickets in innings 0 2 0 10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 Best bowling 4/72 6/23 4/19 Catches/stumpings 5/– 17/– 4/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 1 November 2017

Ashish Nehra ( pronunciation  Hindi: आशीष नेहरा; born 29 April 1979) is a former Indian cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is often nicknamed as "'NehraJi'" by his colleagues and fans.

He was born to Mr. Diwan Singh Nehra and his wife Sumitra Nehra on 29 April 1979 into a Hindu jat family.

Nehra has always had a career troubled with injuries and fitness issues. In an interview, he revealed that he had gone under as much as 12 surgeries. Yuvraj Singh had even once joked about this and said "Ashish Nehra is player who can get injured while sleeping too”. Due to fitness issues, he had been absent from the national scene for extended stretches but had been a part of the Indian team in two largely successful Cricket World Cup campaigns, two Asia Cups, and three ICC Champions Trophy. He had also been particularly effective in the Indian Premier League, in which he has represented five different teams. Nehra was called "one of the best bowlers that the India national cricket team has ever seen" by Ravi Shastri. M.S. Dhoni also suggested Nehra's name as the future bowling coach for India considering his massive experience, his ability to swing the ball both ways and his ability to bowl well under pressure.

Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in late 2017 with the Twenty20 International match against New Zealand on the 1st of November 2017 as his last appearance. His last match was at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in New Delhi.^[1][2] His retirement struck some of his biggest fans around the world especially hard. Javagal Srinath in honour of Nehra's phenomenal career said, "This is the saddest retirement the sport has had to see since Sachin Tendulkar and will leave a hole that cannot be filled. His expertise, way of mentoring the team, and leading from the shadows will never be forgotten by any of the team members.".

On the eve of his farewell game, Delhi & District Cricket Association renamed both the ends of the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground as "Ashish Nehra End" and thus Nehra becoming second bowler in the cricket history after James Anderson (cricketer) to have bowled from the end named after him.

Nehra is the second oldest player to represent India in Twenty20 International Cricket at the age of 38 years 186 days which is only exceeded by Rahul Dravid who played at the age of 38 years 232 days.

Early and personal life

Nehra was born in 1979 in Delhi in Jat family to Diwan Singh Nehra and Sumitra Nehra.He has a brother Bhanu Nehra who is a restaurateur. Ashish Nehra is married to Rushma Nehra and they have two children, daughter Ariana and son Aarush.

Early career

Nehra started playing first-class cricket for his hometown, Delhi, in the 1997/98 season.He played for sonnet cc. He was a student and learned cricket under directions of Mr Tarik Sinha who is still coaching in sonnet cc.

International career

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. He continued his good performances into the England T20 series in 2017, taking 3 for 28 in 2nd match.

Nehra played his last ever international match in a T20I against New Zealand on 1 November 2017. India won the match by 53 runs, with Nehra bowling the final over.

Domestic career

Nehra hit the headlines with creditable showings in the second season of the IPL in 2009. Being out of the reckoning for the national side, he continued to perform for Delhi. In the 2013–14 Ranji Trophy, he took 6/16 from 10 overs to bowl out Vidarbha for a meagre 88 in the first innings at the Roshanara Club Ground at Delhi^[3]

Coaching career

In January 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore appointed Ashish Nehra as their bowling coach.^[6]

International record

ODI 5 Wicket hauls

#	Figures	Match	Opponent	Venue	City	Country	Year
1	6/23	33	England	Kingsmead Cricket Ground	Durban	South Africa	2003
2	6/59	65	Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	Kandy	Sri Lanka	2005

International awards

ODI Man of the Match awards

No.	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	England	Kingsmead Cricket Ground Durban	26 February 2003	DNB ; 10–2–23–6	India won by 82 runs.[7]
2	New Zealand	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	11 September 2009	8.3-0-24-3 ; DNB	India won by 6 wickets.[8]

References

External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Ashish Nehra
• Ashish Nehra on Twitter
• Ashish Nehra on Facebook
• Ashish Nehra on Instagram