We were all so excited and keen to see Ashish Nehra aka ‘Nehra Ji’ walk out in the Team India Jersey for one last time at Feroz Shah Kotla on November 1. It was being speculated that Ashish Nehra will be given this grand retirement ceremony to bowl his last spell at Delhi in the first T20 against New Zealand but our excitement might just turn into disappointment that day.
Ashish Nehra as expected has been picked up for the T20 squad to play the Kiwis but the chief selector of the selection committee MSK Prasad said that there is no assurance if Ashish Nehra will play the match on November 1 or not. He might just be seen in the dressing room or the dugout.
In an interview to media at Mumbai MSK Prasad said that there is no assurance from their side if the 38 year old speedster would be in playing eleven at Kotla or not. He said that it is up to the team management and the think tank to decide on who makes it to playing eleven and who does not.
While we were highly ecstatic to see him displaying his seam bowling for the one last time this statement by MSK Prasad creates clouds of doubt on all our aspirations to see ‘Nehra Ji’ in action for the last instalment of his cricket. We thought that India playing the black caps at Delhi was more of a dream farewell specially prepared for Ashish Nehra who made his first international appearance in 1999.
After losing the first game of the 3 match ODI series against New Zealand, India will have no choice but to win in the second game to turn the 3rd match into a tie breaker. After the 3 match ODI series the 3 match T20 series against the Kiwis will start on November 1 which we are still anticipating will be Ashish Nehra’s day.
Today the Indian squad for T20 series against New Zealand was announced by the selectors. The squad is as followed
Virat Kohli (captain) ,Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandaya, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Y. Chahal, M.S Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shiraz, Azar Patel and Ashish Nehar ( He will be with the team only for the first T20 as he is all set to call it a day then)
We would surely love to see Nehra roar at the bowling crease for one last time and we are pretty hopeful that he will be seen in action that day. Even after saying goodbye to the field Nehra would continue to be an inspiration for many.
By Divesh Gill
