Ashish Nehra retired after 18 years of international cricket in 2017, and already the former fast bowler is back in the Indian cricket scene in a new avatar – as a bowling coach.
Having joined Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, Nehraji spoke to The Quint on the sidelines of an event in Delhi and told us about his new wards, his coaching mantra, and the one player that he would have liked to have in his team this season.
Ashish Nehra, RCB bowling coach. How is this new stint going?
So far so good. Hoping for an exciting season. I will also learn so many things. It is not only coaching, it’s mentoring man-management. Hoping for the best.
You have been a mentor-player before with the IPL teams. How has the transition been? Are the players looking up to you and calling you ‘sir’ now?
I am not that old, no one should call me sir. I have played with all these players, I was playing till last year. I just try to give players whatever help I expected when I was playing. I don’t see success as a result – that only if you win a tournament or reach a final do you do well. You play good cricket, definitely, results will come.
Any player at the IPL auction who you really wanted in your team and managed to pick him up?
The IPL auction is a new word, a new thing I have learned. Few things go your way in an auction and a few don’t. If you can manage to pick 50 to 60 percent of players you wanted, then that is good enough. We were thinking Washington Sundar might go for more money, we wanted Chahal and used RTM to retain him. Quinton de Kock we got cheaper than we expected. More or less we got who we wanted.
Any one player who you wanted to buy but could not?
One player, personally, who I really wanted and am a big fan of is Ben Cutting from Australia. I was very keen on him but unfortunately, Mumbai Indians took him. I hope he has a good season with them, not against RCB though!
What is the best advice you ever got from a coach?
There are so many, it is difficult to name just one. Firstly, when you are young, you don’t listen to anyone anyway. You think you know everything. There are so many things older players used to tell us and we used to think they don’t know anything.
When it comes to cricket or life, I feel you need to give your best shot and the result will come. Talent can only take you so far; in the end, you have to work hard to be able to sustain anywhere. Often, it is the case that you are talented but not hard working; still, you get success but not for long.
Some students study for 10 hours and get less marks than students who study for just two hours. Everybody is different.
When you have players like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, it is understandable that the RCB is known for their batting and their bowlers were not so known. Do you think this time with you also joining the team, the bowlers of the team will make a mark?
I don’t need to teach them anything. They know everything. I will be there just to help them. Washington and Chahal have been really good and we have exciting fast bowlers as well. Navdeep Saini, Kulwant, Umesh Yadav, Siraj, Aniket.
So, we have a good set of bowlers. Hopefully, I can add something with these bowlers. The work has to be done by them only, I’m just there to help.
You had many surgeries in your 18-year career. How is life, free of surgeries?
Never say never. My body is at peace. There isn’t that much stress. I train one hour a day or whenever I get the time. I don’t do it for six to seven hours a day like before. So, my body is at peace. But I definitely miss playing cricket. It was the ultimate feeling. The best pleasure, I would say.
(Camera: Shiv Kumar Maurya, Editor: Rahul Sanpui)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)