Ashish Nehra hopes to end it where it all began

Ashish Nehra has seen it all. Ever since making his debut for India in 1999, Nehra has been in and out of national team many times and for many reasons. His account is full of successes, failures, injuries and comebacks.

Wednesday would be one such time when he, hopefully, gets down at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground to give his last burst with new white ball. And what an event it would be for all his friends and former teammates watching it from a close distance at a venue where he played most of his professional cricket.

Interestingly, Nehra was not there for the last practice session with his national team. And this has been his routine for many years.

Having gone under the knife for a dozen times till date in his 18-year-long career, Nehra had started picking matches that he wanted to play for his home team Delhi. There were umpteen times in last one decade that Delhi used to be on tenterhooks over his availability.

Hopefully, the 38-year-old India’s one of the finest left-arm speedsters will be a part of playing XI on Wednesday. Having been in the squad for just one T20 against Black Caps, Nehra will have to replace one of the three regulars — Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Hardik Pandya — in the squad.

Nehra’s inclusion should not hurt Team India’s chances as he has been the best ‘death overs’ bowler for India whenever he was part of it. Having a look at how Indian pacers were taken to the task by Kiwi batsmen in Kanpur — lost by just six runs while chasing mammoth 337 — Nehra should be a big relief for Virat Kohli.

India’s record in T20 has been exceptional in 2017, winning all five apart from one abandoned due to rain. Going by their performance in the ODI series, where they chased 280 in Mumbai to shock the hosts, New Zealand would be looking to repeat the same in shortest format. For the record, the two teams have met five times in this format — twice in New Zealand, twice in India and once in South Africa — and every time India have finished the second best.

The good news for the No. 1 T20 side in the world is that skipper Kane Williamson has also hit form along with Ross Taylor, Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls. This T20 series should be special for Taylor as he has been called in late. He has not featured in the T20I XI since his team lost to England in the semifinals of the World T20 in 2016.

Experienced pacer Tim Southee, Trent Boult along with Colin de Grandhomme should be part of the playing eleven while spinner Ish Sodhi could be roped in to suit Kotla wicket.

For India, young guns like Shreyas Iyer, Lokesh Rahul and pacer Mohammed Siraj are looking to grab their chances if called in to play.