Ashish Nehra has been recalled to India side for a three-match T20I series, having last competed for his country against England, earlier this year. He suffered an injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) at home and could not feature in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
Nehra has always been a very candid speaker and he didn’t mince words in his latest interview. The fast bowler said that the team management and captain know what he brings to the team.
“Who isn’t happy if he is playing for India? I have never been bothered by criticism. The Indian dressing room knows what I bring to the table. The skipper knows it, the selectors know it. If I am in the team, definitely, I must be contributing something.
When asked about his long-term goals, Nehra said that one shouldn’t make long-term goals at his age. He also took a dig at media and fans.
“At my age, you don’t set long term goals. I have been selected to play three games for India. I will take one game at a time. Waise bhi Ashish Nehra accha karega toh bhi news hai, accha nahi karega toh woh aur bhi badi news hain (If I do well, that’s news, if I don’t do well, that’s even bigger news),” the speedster was quoted as saying by Times Of India.
When asked about how he spent last few months, Nehra said that the selectors and captain are well aware of what he was doing during this break.
“I don’t even know what people say about me on Twitter. Now people may have a notion that since I am not visible on social media and now that I am in the team, where was I during the period. Well, I was religiously following my training schedule, working on my fitness, doing my bowling routines. Things you actually do to make a comeback,” Nehra said.
“Oh yes, people didn’t know where I was but skipper Virat Kohli and chairman of selectors MSK Prasad were well aware what I was doing,” added the Delhi lad, who has played 26 T20Is apart from 120 ODIs and 17 Test matches.
Nehra was also asked how he manages to bowl at 140 kilometres at his age.
“With Zak, you have to take into account he was playing Tests throughout his career. He had to bowl a lot of overs and that required him to conserve energy carefully. Also, he had such an economic action, he could bowl at 80 percent pace but with superb skill-sets disturb the batsmen.
If you look at me, I have been playing T20s for quite some time now. With my action, which is not the smoothest, I cannot bowl at 80 percent when all I have is 24 balls in a match. Another aspect is that this is my action which has helped me generate the kind of pace I do at this age,” Nehra replied.
