The 34-year-old Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar has recently left his long-time domestic team and moved to Pondicherry to play the upcoming domestic season.

Since making debut in professional cricket in 2005, Nayar played 99 first-class matches, 93 List A games and 95 T20s for Mumbai where he scored a total of 8,850 runs and also took a total of 264 wickets.

However, since November 2017, Nayar hasn’t appeared for Mumbai due to inconsistent performances. Just before the Ranji game against Tripura at Wankhede, which was going to be his 100th first-class game, he was dropped from the squad and never got another chance in the rest of the season.

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Now, the all-rounder has moved to Pondicherry and set to begin a new special journey by completing his dream to play the 100th first-class game of his career.

One of Mumbais stalwarts is biding adieu to Mumbai cricket. I have known this guy for a long time and I can honestly say he’s the most selfless man I have met. Giving back to the game/players is his forte. Good luck with all the exciting things ahead buddy @abhisheknayar1 pic.twitter.com/v39LdjlSsH

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) August 20, 2018

Joining the new team, Nayar told ESPNcricinfo, “Pondicherry is an exciting set-up for me to be in. It’s a brand new team, they don’t have players. For me, if I’m going somewhere, I should be able to make a difference. So I don’t want to go to a team where I will take someone’s spot, or a youngster coming in won’t get to play – but rather somewhere I can help people grow into better cricketers, or be in a set-up where ideally, there are people who need that help.”

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Talking about his role in the new team, Nayar has revealed that he will be a player come mentor for Pondicherry but will not lead the side as he believes it can damage the team’s purpose.

The former Mumbai all-rounder said, “I’ll be a player-mentor. I won’t lead, because I don’t believe in going and captaining a side when you’re not going to be there long-term. If I’m not going to play for three-four years, it doesn’t make sense me being captain. I might as well help and groom someone who can lead the team for the next eight-ten years. Being leader for just a year, I’ll actually be damaging the long-term planning rather than being of help. So it’ll definitely be someone else leading, but I’ll obviously make sure that I can pass on my advice and experience so that when I leave, he can take the team forward.”

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Nayar further added that he is happy and not focusing on the milestones.

Nayar said on that, “Two years later, no one talks about who you played your 100th game for, or where you played. I’m sure my team-mates have the same amount of respect for me, five games or 100 games. In short, I’m a happy man. As long as I get that one game, it doesn’t matter where, I’m happy.”

Nayar has played only three ODIs for India after making an international debut in 2009. However, he hasn’t opened his run-scoring account or wicket-taking account in the international cricket.