In Stats: Ashish Nehra’s World Cup Brilliance to His T20 Revival

A look at five stand-out facts from Ashish Nehra’s 18-year-long career.

After 18 long years, Indian pacer Ashish Nehra is set to hang up his boots and retire from international cricket on 1 November. The 38-year-old will be wearing the blue uniform one last time at his home ground – the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi – as India take on New Zealand in the first of three T20 matches.

In a career marked by many injuries and many comebacks, Nehra has been a match winner for India on multiple occasions. The Delhi pacer’s 6 for 23 against England in the 2003 World Cup remains the best figure for India in World Cup matches.

Also Read: Many Injuries & Many Comebacks, But There’s Only One Ashish Nehra

Bowling four overs in a Twenty20 cricket gave Ashish Nehra’s a new life. A stellar IPL season in 2009 earned Nehra a comeback during India’s tour to West Indies in June. He then made his T20 international debut in December 2009 against Sri Lanka, and has since picked up 34 wickets in the 26 games he’s played.

Ashish Nehra made his international debut in India’s Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1999. However, it was the shorter format of the game that he really made a mark in. Nehra played a total of 120 one-day games for India in which he picked up a total of 157 wickets at an average of 31.72.

Also Read: The Four Phases of Ashish Nehra’s 18-Year Career

Nehra has played under a total of seven captains; he made his debut under Mohammad Azharuddin in 1999 and is still playing when Virat Kohli has completed 9000 runs in 200 ODIs in 2017.

India’s 2011 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan proved to be Nehra’s last One Day International. Five years after he dropped from the squad, Ashish Nehra earned a comeback to the Indian team in 2016, courtesy twenty20 cricket. Since then, he has played a total of 18 matches in which he has picked up 21 wickets at an average of 21.67.

(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan.)

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