Basking in the glory for his outstanding performance in the recently concluded IPL tournament, the veteran left-arm-fast and Dhoni’s most trusted comrade in CSK team, Ashish Nehra is now zeroing in on to don the colorful jersey once again. He is expecting to represent India in One Day Internationals soon.
Why Ashish Nehra deserves to play for Team India again?
The bowler is of the opinion that if he is given an opportunity, then he will give more than 200 per cent efforts to ensure that his hard work helps the team. Although, the bowler is staying out of International matches since 2011 cricket world cup, yet he is hopeful that his immaculate bowling at death overs and powerplay will fetch him a spot in India’s young cricket team.
If something that doesn’t go in favour of the bowler, then it is his age. The Delhi cricketer is already 36 and it is known to everyone that making a comeback to national side after 35 and especially in the realm of any sports is definitely an uphill task. However, the lanky cricketer has a different perspective about it. He spoke to several journalists and media personnel over the last few days, and revealed that he is in no mood to hang his boots in the near future.
Nehra also added that age doesn’t matter but performance does. He also admitted that he worked very hard upon his fielding skills and is a much better fielder now than he used be a decade back. The ability of the bowler was never doubted but his fitness issues were always under scanner. He missed a lot of international matches in the early part of his career due to various injuries. It might sound unbelievable, but the fast bowler played only 17 tests until now. He was last seen in a high voltage test match clash against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
Standing at the crossroad of his cricket career, Nehra is keeping all options open. He is ready to play ODIs, Tests and T20s for India. If he gets the opportunity to play for the national side again, then it would be a spectacular comeback for a gutsy fast bowler who is never short of optimism and hope. The Delhi-born cricketer is also eyeing a place for team India at T20 world cup tournament to be played in India next year. In his own words he said “I am available for selection for Indian anytime.” The left-arm-fast has been bowling exceptionally well over the last couple of years on a consist basis, yet he remained unfortunate and wasn’t selected for any international matches.
Nehra’s words have merits. If his stellar performance at the IPL and domestic cricket is taken into consideration, then he emphatically deserves a chance to represent team India at all formats of cricket. However, he must be given the opportunity to do so early or else the wonderful left-handed bowler might announce his early retirement after a year or two due to sheer disappointment.
Tags: Ashish Nehra, Cricket, IPL, IPL 2015, IPL 8, ODIs, Team India
