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Old-horse Nehra Announces His Retirement Officially
By Aditya Pratap - Oct 12, 2017 9:16 am
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Veteran Indian pacer Ashish Nehra has made a full stop on his 18-years long international career while playing for India. He made this announcement on the morning of Thursday, but such rumors were leaking since last night. Now, he made it official that T20I game against New Zealand in Delhi will be his last international match.

Nehra said in Hyderabad before the final T20I against Australia “I have spoken to the team management as well as the chairman of a selection committee. It can’t get bigger than getting to retire in front of your home crowd.”

He arrived at international cricket with a Test debut against Sri Lanka but tasted success in the limited-over cricket. Nehra’s figures of 6/23 against England in 2003 world cup are still the best numbers for an Indian in WC history. He was among the wickets throughout the tournament and helped his team to the finals, where India crashed against eventual champion Australia.

The 38-year-old was also in the Indian dressing room during team’s triumph in 2011 edition of World Cup on home soil, but an injured finger kept him out from most of the games. He played only two games, one against South Africa and one against Pakistan in the all-important semifinal, which is his last ODI game as well. Several injuries kept him out from the national team, but his hard work paid off in January 2016, when selectors called him up for Australia T20Is.

Since then, he played almost every T20I for India including T20 World Cup in India last year. His last appearance was against England in February this year. After that series, injuries ruled him out from the Indian Premier League, West Indies, and Sri Lanka tour. However, selectors spotted the last ray of cricket in Nehra and asked him to join the team for T20Is against Australia. Despite not being in the eleven for first two matches, he is willing to serve more for the nation.

If picked, India’s current oldest player can play two more games, one each against Australia and New Zealand. Delhi can witness a fitting farewell as Nehra started his cricket journey from here only. Thus, local lad chose this venue for his last international appearance. Meanwhile, he also cleared that he won’t play IPL as well.

Here is the video of the press conference in which Nehra made his retirement official;

Its my own decision and once I retire from International Cricket, I will not play in the IPL as well – Ashish Nehra

Geplaatst door Indian Cricket Team op donderdag 12 oktober 2017