Ashish Nehra - India - Bowler

With a physique that resembles a barge pole, Ashish Nehra is all limbs and bones. The wiry Delhi pacer made his international debut against Sri Lanka in a Test match in 1999 and then made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2001. The tour to Zimbabwe in 2001, was where he came of age as he swung the ball like a bazooka bamboozling the hapless Zimbabweans and thereby ensuring India won their first ever Test outside the subcontinent in 15 years. Nehra who slides in to the bowling crease has a lovely side on action, with a fine wrist position which enables the ball to land on the seam and do wicked things. His stock delivery is the one that cuts back in viciously into the right hander and he also has the ability to slant the ball across the batsman.

Nehra had a fine 2003 World Cup in South Africa as he used the hard and seaming wickets to good use. Bowling under lights at Durban against England, he produced one of the finest exhibitions of seam and swing bowling ever by an Indian bowler when he ripped through the English middle-order en route to taking 6/23 - which still is his best ever ODI figures. In that same tournament, he also had the distinction of bowling a 149.7 km/h ball - which at that time was the fastest an Indian bowler had bowled.

After having shown so much promise, the frail body of Nehra began to give in with injuries taking a toll on his health. After Zaheer Khan pulled out of the Australian tour in 2004 due to an injury, Nehra was expected to be the spearhead of the attack, but he could not make an impression as first Ajit Agarkar and then Irfan Pathan stole the show. With new comers like Pathan and Balaji doing well, Nehra was pushed down the pecking order as India went to Pakistan in 2004.

After pulling out midway from the tour of Zimbabwe in 2005, he had operations on his ankle and back which ensured that he was out of cricket for a long while. Nehra slowly recovered from all those setbacks and was signed up by the Mumbai Indians to play in the inaugural IPL season. He did pretty well in the first season and moved to the Delhi Daredevils - his home state - to play in the 2nd edition. That proved to be a wise decision as he produced a brilliant display to end up being the 3rd highest wicket taker in the IPL with 19 wickets from 13 games. That performance made the Indian selectors take notice, and he was recalled against the West Indies in an ODI series. From then, he has never looked back. With Zaheer Khan recovering from a shoulder injury, Nehra slowly assumed the role of a spearhead in ODI cricket and was a regular member of the Indian side from June 2009. He was quite consistent since then and cemented his place until the 2011 World Cup. Though he didn't play all the games, he featured in three matches, including the semifinal against Pakistan in which he injured his finger and unfortunately, has never made it to India's playing XI since then.

However, after fully recovering from his injury, he represented the Pune Warriors in the IPL before moving to Delhi Daredevils in 2013. After impressing the men who mattered, being thrown into the auctions pool, Nehra was bought by Chennai Super Kings for 2 crore at the 2014 auctions. He had two good seasons for that franchise and the selectors recalled him for the T20Is against Australia in January 2016. He continued to be part of the Indian squad in the shortest format and spearheaded the bowling attack in the 2016 edition of the T20 World Cup at home.

Nehra (on October 12, 2017) announced that he will retire from all forms of cricket after the first Twenty20 International against New Zealand which is set to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla on November 1.