I never asked for a farewell game, Ashish Nehra clarifies

(Photo Credit: BCCI/Twitter)

New Delhi: Ashish Nehra walked into the sunset of his 18-year cricket career on Wednesday, and contrary to some of the reports going around, the 38-year-old veteran left-arm pacer made it clear that he did not ask for a farewell game and considered himself lucky that he got one in front of his home crowd here.

"I have been saying this again and again. Luckily this game happened to be in Delhi. I have not asked for a farewell game or anything. This is perhaps one way that God has rewarded me for all the hard work I have put in over the last eight-nine years," Nehra was quoted by PTI.

"I have not spoken to any selector over this issue."

BCCI's chief selector MSK Prasad had recently said that there was no assurance on Nehra's availability for the first T20 international at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.

Nehra was pretty upfront with what he felt about the issue. 

"I heard this," Nehra said. "When I started playing cricket, I didn't take any selector's permission. When I am leaving, I am not leaving with their permission," he said.

"Even today people were wondering if Ashish Nehra will play or not, but if I was in the 15 today, I was obviously going to play. I didn't come to just look around," Nehra told reporters. 

"When I reached Ranchi (during the ODI series), I told Virat about my plan, and his first reaction was, 'Are you sure? You can still play IPL. You can play as coach-cum-player.' I said no. I am retiring completely," Nehra added.

(With PTI inputs)