Despite staying away from the limelight and social media, Ashish Nehra has won himself fans even off the field. We’ve heard funny anecdotes about him from his teammates and watched his once-in-a-blue-moon interviews on repeat.
After claiming 235 wickets in 164 matches, the Delhi pacer bid goodbye to international cricket on 1 November in New Delhi, at his home ground.
As he walks into the sunsets, here’s some more fond (and maybe funny) memories to remember him by – Ashish Nehra’s six funniest quotes.
For five years of his cricketing career, Ashish Nehra was not picked to play for India, for reasons unknown to most. The Indian pacer injured his finger in the 2011 World Cup semi-final, in which he returned with figures of 2 for 33 in 10 overs. And despite being the highest Indian wicket-taker between 2009 and 2011 – when he picked 65 wickets at an average of 32.64 and economy rate of 5.85 – Nehra did not get a chance to play until India’s tour to Australia in 2016.
When asked about the reason behind the omission in an interview in June 2015, the Indian pacer told Espncricinfo: “Don't know what happened, no one has ever told me. Don't know if its because someone doesn't like my face. But my wife likes my face, so I'm happy”.
When asked in the same interview whether he had any regrets, Nehra said, “There will be regrets in everyone's life but I am very happy. I never asked for more from God. I just always say that I am thankful for what I have, and if I continue to have it, I will be happy”. The cricketer went on to say that he however wished he had played more Test cricket in his career.
"If I could play six first-class games a year in six weeks at the age of 34, definitely I could have done the same for India as well. I could have played another 40 to 50 Test matches," said Nehra.
After making his debut in 1999, the Delhi lad played a total of 17 Test matches for India – last against Pakistan in 2004.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/889005.html
Throughout his career, Ashish Nehra chose to stay away from the limelight – he seldom gave interviews and stayed off social media. So when a journalist asked the pacer to comment on the social media war between Indian and Bangladeshi cricketers in 2016, the cricketer said, “I'm someone who's not on social media, I still use my old Nokia”.
One can’t say it was unexpected, but news of Ashish Nehra’s retirement wasn’t music to the ears of Indian cricket fans either. In his post-match press conference, the cricketer revealed: “Virat first said ‘you can still play’, then he said ‘you can play IPL’, but my aim always has been to play for India”.
“It is always better to retire when people are saying why rather than why not. I always wanted to retire on a high," he added.
Ashish Nehra’s recent interview with Gaurav Kapur had become the talk of the town and garnered over a million views on YouTube. In the free-wheeling chat, the cricketer spoke about everything from planning his wedding in a week to jumping into the pool in his underwear.
“Nachna mujhe ata nahi hai, do vodka lagenge” (I don’t know how to dance but I could if I had two vodka shots)“ was just one of the many quotes from that interview that left us in splits.
Another funny anecdote that Nehra shared in this same interview was about his wedding. The cricketer revealed that his decision to get married to wife Rushma was spontaneous.
“Main toh 1 April ko shaadi karne wala tha. Par kisi ne bola, logon ko lagega april fool bana raha hai,” (I was going to get married on 1 April but I was told people might not take my seriously), said Nehra.
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