PULLING DOWN THE CURTAINS

Delhi swansong completes Nehra's circle of cricket

by Kritika Naidu • Last updated on

Ashish Nehra, who has played under as many as six Indian captains since his international debut, is all set to bid adieu to the game © AFP

In today's rather ostentatious world where everyday life has made itself onto social media, Ashish Nehra has no social media accounts. No Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. If it is unfathomable to some, until a few months ago he used a Nokia E51 before his wife gifted him an iPhone 7. While the iPhone 7 might have extravagant features, Nehraji, like he's better known in jest, uses his iPhone for Whatsapp - that he only learnt to use in 2017 - and the red and green buttons to reject and accept calls.

It is little doubt that Nehra is old-school; he comes from a different era and perhaps, still lives in it despite being surrounded by the elite socialites of South Delhi's upscale Hauz Khas. That, though, hasn't had a bearing on his relationships or the person he really is, which is validated by him jumping at the first opportunity to repay the effort and time that his childhood coach Tarak Sinha put in him. When Sinha had been evicted from his government accommodation, he had just a week to find a place for himself and his family. Nehra not just took care of that by arranging shelter for his coach, but instead bought him an apartment.

Sinha, the founder and head coach of Delhi's Sonnet Cricket Club in Ajmal Park, first met Nehra when he was around 14. Since then, he has been a father figure for Nehra, who still calls his childhood coach and keeps him up to date with his life. So much so, he trains at the Sri Venkateswara Cricket Ground in Dhaula Kuan even today, where he now is a mentor to a lot of youngsters, apart from providing financial assistance to the club that made him.

Sinha's eyes lit up instantly back then, on seeing the potential that had walked into his academy having the knack of spotting talent. Having been rejected in the Under-16s school games trial despite being one of the better wicketkeeper-batsmen around, he vowed other youngsters would not suffer the same fate. He took to coaching and in 1969 formed the club that has since supplied players like Nehra, Shikhar Dhawan, Manoj Prabhakar, Aakash Chopra, Surinder Khanna and Anjum Chopra among others to both, the men and women's national team.

"I was really impressed with what I saw of him (Nehra) then," Sinha tells Cricbuzz. "I thought that his height was good, and that he was just 14 so I had two years to work and prepare him for the Under-16s. He already took to fast bowling and bowled quite fast. The best quality he had even then as a youngster was his deceptive pace. And because he was tall, the ball would just zoom through and that was a quality that could take him places. Time was also on his side."

Under his guidance, Nehra soon played for Delhi in the Under-16s but thereafter came a point when he was discouraged enough to give up the game altogether. "Ab mere bas ki nahi hai cricket (cricket is not longer my cup of tea)," Nehra told Sinha, literally pulling his hair out - that he did when he was frustrated - when he didn't make the Under-19 side. But consolation from his coach and a definitive strategy of the hard yards forward had him convinced as he made his way to Delhi's Ranji Trophy team without having played the Under-19s at all.

Also a clerk at the PGDAV College then, which was his day job, Sinha lived in Gurgaon in those early days. He would catch the train and would be accompanied by a young Nehra, who always had a ball in hand and lots of questions in his head. "He used to stand with me and discuss cricket during the commute, asking me what he should be doing. I used to tell him to land the ball on the seam, or work on this or that. I had a great relationship with him, even his family," he says.

Nehra participated in local tournaments in Delhi where he saw quite a bit of success. Once his coach felt he was ready to make the next move up, he went up to some Ranji Trophy selectors in Delhi and asked them to have a look at Nehra. "I said to them that if they liked him, then they should promote him and give him a chance, and if not, then tell me what was lacking so that I could work with him on those areas to improve. Hari Gidwani was a selector then and he saw Nehra in the nets. He said he was very talented and he would try his best to get him to play in the Ranji Trophy for Delhi."

And he did. Nehra made his first-class debut against Haryana in 1997-98 season. He repaid the selector's faith - who had faced a lot of resistance over the decision - with a fine performance, leaving his mark with his sharp inswingers. Haryana skipper Ajay Jadeja, who was stunned by Nehra's inswing after falling to him in both innings, heaped praise on the youngster, before Navjot Singh Sidhu joined the bandwagon.

"He said that this boy doesn't seem like he has pace," Sinha says. "He is very deceptive and pacey. He then made his Test debut in 1999 against Sri Lanka as a replacement for (Javagal) Srinath who was injured." And the rest is history.

Eighteen years, 235 international scalps and 12 surgeries after, Nehra, who has played under as many as six Indian captains since his international debut, is all set to bid adieu to the game at his home ground in Delhi. His decision came after Delhi was slotted to host the first Twenty20 International against New Zealand at the Feroz Shah Kotla. What better way to say goodbye to a game that he spent all of his life playing, at home?

He even sent out a request for a whole corporate box for his friends and family to watch him play his last game. That Nehra had announced his decision to retire at home even before the squad for the series was announced, raised questions of how a player could decide he would be a default name in the squad given that he didn't make the playing XI for the T20I series against Australia prior to this series. Yet, he was named. Whether or not he would make the playing XI, the Kotla was geared up to bid one of its sons goodbye.

© Cricbuzz

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