Indian left-handed batsman Suresh Raina has paid tribute to veteran pacer Ashish Nehra, who confirmed that he will bid adieu to all forms of cricket after the opening T20I of the three-match series against New Zealand in Hyderabad on November 1.
Heaping praise over Nehra, Raina insisted that the 38-year-old is the one player who always gives best advice and that he is still going strong at this age.
"He is such a lovely human being and has worked so well on his game. I met him couple of times and we played so many matches together. And he is one guy who always gives good advice. At the age of 38, he is still going strong. I hope he will do well in Hyderabad and win a game for my country," said Raina.
Nehra, who made his India debut back in 1999 under Mohammad Azharuddin, represented the country in 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 26 T20Is. He has picked up 44 Test wickets, besides 157 ODI and 34 T20 wickets.
The left-arm pacer, who is also part of the ongoing three-match T20I series against Australia, is best remembered for his superb bowling spell against England at Durban in the 2003 ICC World Cup, where he picked six wickets for just 23 runs.
Meanwhile, Raina also reflected his views on stone-pelting incident on the Australian cricket team bus which took place as the visiting side returned to the team hotel from the Barsapara Cricket Stadium following their eight-wicket win in the second T20I of the three-match series in Guwahati.
The batsman condemned the attack on the Australian team and said he is hopeful that nothing like this would happen in future. "Sad to see that, especially when they played a good game. I think BCCI looking into it. We all play together in IPL. Hopefully, nothing got serious. Thanks to the BCCI and anti-corruption unit as well as the cops, I think they looked after each and everything really well. I hope it won't happen again in future," he said.
Following the incident, Australian opener Aaron Finch had tweeted a picture of a broken window saying, "Pretty scary having a rock thrown through the team bus window on the way back to the hotel!!"
The rock, believed to be roughly the size of a cricket ball, was thrown at a window on the right-hand side of the bus, while it was returning from the stadium. It should be noted that no injuries were caused to any of the players or the support staff.
