Board looks to correct past mistakes through Nehra

NEWDELHI: It is debatable whether an unfair treatment of one player can be reversed by doing the right thing for the other. But India’s national selectors must be applauded for picking Ashish Nehra for the first T20 International against New Zealand.

The 38-year-old left-arm pace bowler had expressed his desire to retire in front of his home crowd and the first of the three T20 games to be played at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground will give Nehra the opportunity to bid adieu in front of the fans.

A debate began after Nehra, finding himself excess to requirements on being selected for the T20s against Australia,

requested the team management and BCCI to let him play in the Delhi game and bid farewell on the pitch.

Sunil Gavaskar questioned giving any such allowance to a player who himself admitted India’s pace bowling in the limited-overs was in safe hands of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Nehra had decided long back that his injury-prone body can’t stand the rigours of ODIs or Tests. While Gavaskar has a valid point, letting Nehra run in to bowl in front of his family and friends one last time will allow the BCCI to send a message to fans that it is capable of appreciating tradition.

What will this graceful act for Nehra help the BCCI make amends for? A bunch of India cricketing greats – Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan in particular – ended their careers away from the field when the BCCI should have ensured they got a farewell game and gave their biggest stakeholders, fans, the I-was there moment.

Compared to them, Nehra hardly played for India. His frail frame wasn’t suited for bowling fast. The result: Just 17 Tests (44 wickets), 120 ODIs (157 wickets) and 26 T20Is (34 wickets) in an 18-year India career.

Credit to the Delhi bowler, he never compromised on pace, and was always honest in assessing himself. A member of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad, he missed the final against Sri Lanka due to a hand injury.

But who can forget the matchwinning 6/23 against England in Durban – after not even warming up due to an ankle injury, which alongwith the efforts of Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath carried Sourav Ganguly’s side to the final of the 2003 World Cup? One man for sure will be nostalgic when Nehra walks out for his farewell game, one who rode pillion on Nehra’s scooter daily to the training ground with the dream of playing for India one day – Virender Sehwag.

A BUNCH OF INDIA GREATS ENDED THEIR CAREERS AWAY FROM THE FIELD WITHOUT A FAREWELL GAME