Ashish Nehra's Love affair with the IPL
When the Delhi Daredevils swapped Shikhar Dhawan for Ashish Nehra with the Mumbai Indians in 2009, Nehra painted an almost forlorn figure, remembered only for his heroic figures of 6-23 in the 2003 World Cup against England.
A serious ankle injury following the tournament, a few mediocre performances, and more subsequent injuries had ensued his ouster, first from the team, and then the outer rungs of national level cricket.
For a player of his caliber, not performing was not an option, and he gave occasional performances for Delhi in the domestic circuit.
It was all, but over for him, and his fans had given up hope for his comeback. Until IPL happened.
Ashish was picked up by Mumbai Indians in the first edition, and gave a decent performance with 12 wickets in 14 matches, including one man of the match award.
Second Coming
The medium pacer married his long time sweetheart, Rushma in 2009, who proved to be a lucky charm for him. Playing for his home squad Delhi Daredevils, he ended up with stellar figures of 19 wickets in 13 matches. His sparkling comeback, had pleasantly surprised everyone, including the selectors. His inswingers in the death overs of crucial matches showed glimpses of his form in 2003.
| Matches | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | BBI | Avg | Econ | 4 | 5 |
| 13 | 51.0 | 1 | 346 | 19 | 3/27 | 18.21 | 6.78 | 0 | 0 |
That particular IPL season breathed in a second life for him, and got him a call for the 2009 ODI tour to the West Indies. At 29, Nehra made a comeback to the Indian team after 4 years.
A few minor injuries followed, but so did solid bowling spells, and he managed to stick around to be selected for the 2011 World Cup, the end of which resulted in another injury for the left-armer.
The injury, coupled with talented fresh blood waiting to jump into the fray, pushed him to the outer rungs of international cricket. He expressed his disappointment on not being selected for the 2011 tour to England, despite making himself available for the same.
His swing remained intact, and he delivered a few commendable performances in the domestic circuit, but that still didn’t earn him a call back to the Indian side.
In 2013, the Delhi pacer made a few cameo performances for the Pune Warriors, before moving back to the Delhi Daredevils for the 2014 edition, but failed to make a mark, much like his teams.
Resurgence and Beyond
However since the beginning of the new IPL season, playing for Chennai, Nehra looks set to make a comeback to the national side. He has bowled astonishingly well, much to the dismay of those critics who had dismissed his career.
In CSK’s match against RCB, Nehra scalped a career-best 4 wickets in 4 overs, for just 10 runs. He has comfortably slipped into Balaji’s shoes, becoming Dhoni’s go-to man for wickets.
Nehra’s performance in the season so far*
| Matches | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wickets | BBI | Average | Econ | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 24.0 | 0 | 137 | 12 | 4/10 | 11.41 | 5.70 | 1 | 0 |
Given his pace and consistency, he might as well end up with the Purple Cap this season, as he has already taken 12 wickets in 6 matches, at a phenomenal economy rate of 5.70.
In his 16 year-long career in international cricket, plagued by injuries, and dotted with blitzkrieg bowling performances, the IPL has proved to the biggest boon to Nehra.
The bowling veteran, a week short of his 36th Birthday, if continues delivering similar performances, surely deserves another chance at the fag end of his career. And if he does get the chance, it will once again be attributed to the IPL.
However, it is yet to be seen if that happens. If there is one thing that his fans would want to say, it’ll have to be, ‘He’s not done yet’.
*updated till CSK vs KXIP, 25th April.