I will miss playing for India: Ashish Nehra on retirement

Nov 1, 2017 at 11:07 PM

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I will miss playing for India: Ashish Nehra on retirement

With 100 percent win record, the Kiwis sent India to bat first winning the toss in the first match of the three-match T20 series. India got off to a flier as both the openers Shikhar Dhawan (80), and Rohit Sharma (80) completed their half-centuries hitting the bowlers all over the park. They registered the highest opening stand for India as Dhawan got out in the 17th over with 156 runs on the board. Virat Kohli played a blistering knock of 26 runs off 11 balls with the help of 3 gigantic six to takes the total pass 200. The leg-spinner Ish Sodhi was the pick of the bowlers picking up two wickets in his quota of four overs.


Chasing massive total of 203 runs, New Zealand were striving at 18 for two at the end 4rth over losing both the openers early. With the required rate creeping up, the Blackcaps couldn’t keep the pace as they lost their captain Kane Williamson (28) as he nicked one of Hardik Pandya in the safe hands of Dhoni. Hero from the last ODI, Tom Latham (39) tried his best but got out stumped missing a wrong one from Chahal. Axar Patel who was the pick of the bowlers shattered New Zealand’s dream by picking up two wickets in a single over. Veteran Ashish Nehra, who played his last international match today finished his quota of 4 overs giving away 29 runs. In their quota of 20 overs, the Kiwis could only manage 149 runs thus losing the match by 53 runs.

An Image Courtesy: BCCI

Ashish Nehra, who is popularly called ‘Nehraji’, had an outstanding career throughout and his magnificent spell against England will be engraved in the minds of all cricketing fans. He was seen talking a lap of honour as the entire team walked by him. Dhawan and Kohli were hoisting him up on their shoulders as they settle for one final farewell picture. Nehra, who made his international debut in 1999, got emotional while having a chat in India jersey for one last time. He said,

“I will miss all this. That’s what you train for. Like I said earlier, one thing that will be in peace is my body. I really pushed myself. I could have pushed for another two months or years, but who knows you can’t get better and bigger than this and it was the right time retiring in blue clothes. I must be one bowler who bowled the most number of last overs for India, but it was different sort of pressure and today was much more comfortable. Virat was on my case for the last 2-3 overs and I said I will bowl the last over. It is a big change and I have seen 18-19 years of cricket, I played my first game here in 1997 and there have been drastic changes. The rules have been changed and so many runs being scored. This is an amazing team and Indian cricket is in good hands for next 7-8 years. Every 8-10 years game changes and I don’t like to compare generations. Earlier we had superb players, Ganguly, MS or Sachin, I can’t name everybody. All in all it has been a great journey. More than one performance I would say it’s the memory that matters more. In India people remember the memories more. I have told Viru before, he has scored so many runs, but people remember him as Multan ka Sultan. Maybe, the Karachi last over or people may even remember Ashish Nehra for bowling the last over against South Africa in the World Cup (2011) and we lost. Many people asked me if you would have liked to play more Test cricket. But I think I am very fortunate to be standing here, retiring after 18 years, retiring in blue clothes in your home ground, I have no regrets. The crowd has been a great support. I am always happy whether I am retired or not.”

Shikhar Dhawan (80 runs off 52 balls)  played some astonishing shots at the start of the innings to give India a brilliant start, which was well utilised by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He has been in tremendous form in the limited-overs game and proved his worth every game. While taking the man of the match award, he was heard saying,

“I was very happy with the way I batted today. I haven’t really performed well in this format. Rohit started off slightly slow, so I had to take up the aggressor’s role. I can play anywhere on the ground. I tried to play behind the ball and it worked for me. I love all three formats. I think I have the ability to play all formats. I want to stay fit and compete with the 25 year olds.”

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