Ashish Nehra to "take a call" on future in next 6 weeks
Ruling himself out of the four-day format, former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra said he would take a call on his cricketing future in the next six to eight weeks.
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New Delhi: Ruling himself out of the four-day format, former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra said he would take a call on his cricketing future in the next six to eight weeks.
On opening his academy, Nehra said he does not mind being a bowling coach as he is comfortable doing things out there on the field.
"I love speaking to youngsters and want to give back what I have learnt in the last 20 years. I am not a man who can sit in an air-conditioned room. I am an outdoor person and believe in practical work and not theories.
"If a young aspiring fast bowler comes upto me and asks me about swing bowling, I tell him, 'First show me what you are capable of and then I will show you what needs to be done'," said Nehra, whose 6/23 against England in a 2003 World Cup game in Durban is still a part of cricketing folklore.
Nehra also said that he is open to the bowling coach's job even at U-16 and U-19 level.
"Anything on the ground, I will never say no. So I am not saying no to bowling coach's job whether it's U-16, U-19 but let's see how it pans out. I am still playing active cricket but I don't know where I am going from here but this is certainly on my mind," said Nehra.
"Coaching is all about being at the ground. I mean I am not playing international cricket for the past four years but I still love to be at the ground. Whenever I am in Delhi, I will always go to the ground. If it's raining, I will at least play football with my son."
Nehra also recalled an interaction with Glenn McGrath in England which prompted him to believe that one also learns a lot while coaching or mentoring fast bowlers.
"What I have learnt in the last four to five years, I didn't learn in the first 10 years of my career. I remember meeting Glenn McGrath in England sometime back. McGrath was telling me, 'Ashish what I learnt as a coach at MRF in the past 18 months, I haven't learnt in the 15 year playing career'.
"Hope I had this knowledge when I was bowling. So I just joked and told Glenn that 'what did you want'. To get 3000 Test wickets."