Nehra’s big chance to redeem himself in final

MIRPUR: In 2011, as India prepared to play the World Cup final, pacer Ashish Nehra was left nursing a finger injury that ruled him out of what could have been the biggest night of his career. Since then, he was ignored from the national side for five years.

On Sunday, as India take on Bangladesh in the final of the Asia Cup, Nehra will finally be back on the big stage playing in his first major final since returning to international cricket.

Nehra’s return to the national side has been one of the most surprising selection decisions in recent times. After spending five years away, Nehra burst onto the scene with his impressive showing while playing for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League in 2015. Nehra scalped 22 wickets from 16 games to finish fourth highest on the wicket-takers’ list. It was Nehra’s performance that played a vital role in handing the MS Dhoni-led CSK a place in the final. However, once on the big stage, Nehra could not quite make the ball work as he had through the tournament.

The selectors though seemed to have been impressed with his performance and gave him an India call-up. Since his return, Nehra has led the pace attack well. Partnering youngsters Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, the 36-year-old has not let India’s bowling look shaky even once in the nine games he has played so far.

Skipper Dhoni has relied on him to lead the bowling. During the Asia Cup, with greenish wickets on offer, Nehra has contributed with vital breakthroughs and restricted the runs to a bare minimum His understanding of biggest gain. In short bursts of two overs each, Nehra has found the rhythm that has been bringing him and the team major returns.

A lot of the same will be expected from him in the final. With the inexperienced Bumrah and Pandya playing their firstever final, the onus will be on the Delhi-based bowler to deliver in the final, a stage he has so far failed to perform on.

Nehra’s last big performance was against England during the 2003 World Cup At that stage of a handful of matches under his belt. He had then impressed on the big stage with terrific figures of six for 23. The story of the final went along similar lines; he had then finished wicket-less.

Before that, during the 2002 Champions Trophy final, Nehra had to be replaced ahead of the final after injuring his bowling hand in the previous game.

Ahead of the World T20, which is likely to be the last big stage before he walks into the sunset, Nehra would want to set his track