Ashish Nehra's Parting Shot: Didn't Take Selectors' Permission To Start Playing, Don't Need One Now

Agencies
November 2, 2017

Nov 2: Ashish Nehra is a man of few words. The left-arm pacer played his last international match on Wednesday as India beat New Zealand by 53 runs in the first Twenty20 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Wednesday night. However, the 38-year-old didn't leave without having a last say. Chief selector MSK Prasad had recently said that Nehra will not be considered for selection beyond the three-match T20I series against New Zealand. Following his farewell match, Nehra said that he started playing without the selectors' permission and is now leaving without it.

"I heard this," Nehra said when asked about Prasad's comments.

"I don't know. The chairman of selection committee has not spoken to me about this. You have asked me this question, and I can only tell you about my interaction with the team management.

"When I reached Ranchi, I told Virat about my plan, and his first reaction was, 'Are you sure? You can still play IPL. You can play as coach-cum-player.' I said no. I am retiring completely."

The 38-year-old Nehra made it clear that he did not ask for a farewell game, calling himself lucky that he got one in front of his home crowd.

"I have been saying this again and again. Luckily this game happened to be in Delhi. I have not asked for a farewell game or anything. This is perhaps one way that god has rewarded me for all the hard work I have put in over the last eight-nine years.

"I hope Virat and coach Ravi Shastri are part of the team management because those are the people I spoke to. I have not spoken to any selector over this issue."

He further added, "When I started playing cricket, I didn't take any selector's permission. When I am leaving, I am not leaving with their permission."

Prasad had recently said that there was no assurance on Nehra's availability for the first T20 International at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

"We have clearly communicated to the player, Ashish Nehra, and to the team management that we are only looking at him till the New Zealand series," Prasad had said.

Nehra said he was convinced about his decision to call it quits and was happy to see the progress made by Bhuvneshwar Kumar alongside Jasprit Bumrah.

"When I went there, I went with my plan. I felt that Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ready. If you had seen earlier, Bumrah and I have been playing.

"Even today people were wondering if Ashish Nehra will play or not, but if I was in the 15 today, I was obviously going to play. I didn't come to just look around," Nehra told reporters.

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News Network
March 19,2020

London, Mar 19: Talking about the break in cricketing activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn said that the disease seems to be to the only topic of conversation these days.

"I don't know how to describe it. Doesn't matter where you go, everyone is talking about it - whether it is on an airplane or you are just popping into a grocery store. It just seems like it is the only topic of conversation," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Steyn as saying.

"Yeah, it's so strange. Normally if I am on holiday I'll be planning a fishing trip or a surfing trip. At the moment I am just chilling at home," he added.

Steyn was last seen in action in the Pakistan Super League where he took two wickets in two matches.

When asked whether he has enough hand sanitizers, he replied: "We just decided that stockpiling is definitely not the way to go. It is not fair on everybody who needs that stuff. I went to the grocery store the other day and everyone had bought all the toilet paper. We have what we need, and when that runs out, that runs out, and we need to go and get some more".

"We didn't feel it was necessary to go and absolutely just, like, zombie our lives up. There's other people that live on a day-to-day basis. They are not going to get all of that stuff, so we thought it was best not to do that".

Steyn also had a message for the fans, "Stay healthy, wash your hands, look after yourself, don't be greedy. Right now they are saying old people are really struggling, so if in a position to help, rather help them than help yourself. Pretty simple, really."

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ODI series between India-South Africa and Australia-New Zealand have been postponed.

The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been postponed until April 15.

Cricket South Africa has suspended all forms of cricket for 60 days while Cricket Australia has advised all its employees to work from home.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

New Delhi, Feb 7: It was on February 7, 1999, that Anil Kumble became just the second bowler in the history of cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, now known as Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in Delhi during the second Test of the two-match series.

India had set Pakistan a target of 420 runs in the match and the visitors got off to a steady start as openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar put on 101 runs for the first wicket.

It was then Kumble who came into the attack and wreaked havoc on the Pakistani batting line-up.

The spinner, also known as 'Jumbo' first dismissed Afridi (41) in the 25th over. After the right-handed batter's dismissal, India kept on taking wickets through Kumble and Pakistan was reduced to 128/6 in no time.

Kumble then kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and he got his tenth scalp in the 61st over after dismissing Wasim Akram.

This effort enabled India to register a win by 212 runs, and Kumble became the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in a single Test inning.

Kumble finished with the bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs.

Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008 and finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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