An enigma called Ashish Nehra

Biswajit Jha

The story of left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra is one of perseverance, mental strength and believing in one’s own ability in the face of all odds. It’s not easy to make a comeback after four long years, especially into the Indian cricket team. But Nehra, an enigmatic fast bowler, has done that difficult thing in style when he was picked for the ODI series against West Indies scheduled to be played later this month.Nehra, who burst into the cricketing circuit almost 10 years ago, riding on the back of his superb domestic performance, is a bowler with tremendous ability. As a bowler his forte was his pace, accuracy and ability to move the ball at a rollicking speed. The high point of his career came during 2003 World Cup against England when he took 6-23 in Durban and showed the world what he was capable of when he was fully fit. But Nehra’s fitness often let him and Team India down. One who closely follows Indian cricket knows that Nehra was never excluded from any team owing to a bad show with the ball. It’s his injury that forced the talented Delhi paceman out of the national career on most occasions. Whenever he is fit, he remains to be an asset to any team. The wily Sourav Ganguly always backed Nehra’s ability and handed him the red cherry whenever the team needed an important breakthrough. But luck has always played nasty tricks on Nehra. His achievements on the field were followed by a series of injuries that threatened to end his career. A terrible back injury compelled him to sit out after the 2003 World Cup high. He had his first ankle surgery after the 2003 World Cup. Before he had recovered fully from it, he suffered a back injury, but played nevertheless. Midway through the Zimbabwe series of 2005, he came back home with a sore back. In 2006, he had another surgery after he tore a ligament after twisting his ankle while practicing. He got under the knife again for an ankle injury.
They were truly tough phases of his career. He tried to make a comeback on numerous occasions, only to break down after a few matches. While talking to Zeecric before this year’s IPL, Nehra had expressed his frustration over the series of injuries he suffered in his decade-long international career. But mentally he never broke down. He told our website that he never thought of giving up in-spite of the fact that he had to sit out for such a long time. Then came the first edition of the Indian Premier League. Nowhere in the national reckoning, Nehra, picked up by Mumbai Indians, bowled superbly and showed that despite cooling his heels away from the vicinity of glamorous Indian cricket, he had not lost the art of bowling fast and accurately. If IPL-I provided the launching-pad, IPL-II heralded his entry into the big league of international cricket. Bowling at demon fast speed, he breathed fire with the opening ball and then came back at the death overs to polish off the tails. He, along with Dirk Nannes, forged one of the deadliest new-ball attacks for Delhi Daredevils in IPL-II. His superb show earned him the distinction of becoming the third highest wicket-taker in the second season of the league with 19 wickets. His performance yet again has earned him another comeback into the side. There is no doubt that if he stays fit, he will make the ball talk and make even the best of batsmen suffer. Hopefully, we will see a pumped up Nehra peppering the batsmen with fiery stuff, not a Nehra who is leaving the field with another injury after playing a few games.