Ashish Nehra and the spell in Durban that will always define him

As he stood at the top of his bowling mark on the 26th of February, 2003, Ashish Nehra’s face wore a pensive look. He didn’t quite know whether he would bowl well or badly; whether he would be quick or ordinary; whether he would cost India the match or win it. Hell, he didn’t even know if he would be able to bowl out his overs.

We will never know what exactly was going through his mind at that moment but we do know that leading into the game against England at the 2003 World Cup in Durban, his ankle had been the subject of much debate. An injury in the game against Namibia meant that coach John Wright ran him through a stringent fitness test on the day before the game but captain Sourav Ganguly was pushing for his inclusion on a pitch that had a healthy covering of grass.

For much of his career, Nehra had bowled around the 130-135 km/h mark. But in the World Cup, he had suddenly found his stride. The pace now averaged above 140 km/h and during a spell against Zimbabwe he even bowled one at 149 km/h. It was tempting to play Nehra – well, with Nehra the temptation was always there.

At his best, he could move the ball off the seam either way and, when the mood took him, get the ball lift to off length – an aspect of his bowling which Zaheer Khan has gone on record saying he constantly wanted to emulate. At his worst, he could spray the ball all around the wicket and worse still, break down and leave India a bowler short.

Clearly, Wright’s concern was real. After the defeat against Australia early in the tournament, the Indian side had hit its stride and the match against England was a big one.

This reporter ran into his Australian physiotherapist Dale Naylor on the day of the game and watched much of the game with him.

Naylor had then revealed just what Nehra had been upto: “The bum muscle, the gluteus maximus, that’s where your power-house is. It’s the upper hamstring and in Ashish, one-side was particularly weak and he was using muscles on the other side to compensate for that and it took a little while to re-educate him about that. But once we got it going, we just got better. Now, it looks like he is not bowling that hard but is delivering much more power.”

The power had translated into increased pace and better rhythm. Still the wickets had been elusive throughout his career. He had a total of 30 wickets in 32 matches before the India-England clash – in 14 of those matches, he was wicket-less and in another 6, he claimed a solitary wicket. Legend? Far from it. Certain pick? Not in any statistician’s book.

It was a record that had seen him not being picked for the opening game against The Netherlands and in the second game of the tournament, against Australia.

So to many in the stands, the question was clear – why was Nehra playing? But to Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who had all faced him in the nets… there was no question. Nehra had to play.

Still, as he stood at the top of his bowling run-up, no one knew how things would unfold. The Indians ran out onto the park after the innings break to defend a score of 250. Nehra didn’t quite run. Running was never his thing. He took a few quick steps and then slowed down to a walk.

Lucky 13

By the time Nehra was brought into the attack in the 13th over, England were already two wickets down. But the match was still in balance, Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain were in the middle and 250 was not intimidating.

The second ball from Nehra was on the legs and Michael Vaughan helped it along for four. His third is almost a wide. Even before he could turn back, Zaheer Khan and Ganguly rushed to the middle with words of encouragement and a pat to the back. He trudged back, talking to himself as he so often does.

From the stands, it felt like a typical Nehra start to the spell. The Indian fans seemed a little uneasy. And Nehra himself looked a little out of rhythm, unsure whether he should go all out or hold back.

The 15th over was better – 1-0-2-0-0-0. There was enough movement and consistency to give Nehra and all those seated in the crowd some more confidence.

Then, the 17th over began. The second ball was a length delivery, but the natural left-armers angle took it across Nasser Hussain. The right-hander played at it, found the edge and Rahul Dravid (the keeper) took it easily. Nehra’s airplane celebration took off and ended right next to Dravid. The crowd found its voice.

A ball later, Alec Stewart was trapped in front, first ball. The batsman shuffled across the stumps and Nehra got the delivery bang on. Now, the flags came out.

Nehra, though, was far from done.

Vaughan was sent back in the next over. In his 8th over, Collingwood was sent back to the dressing room. White and Irani were dismissed in his 10th over. With each wicket, his smile seemed to get bigger and airplane celebration a little longer. The smiles were a mixture of joy and disbelief. Was this Nehra? Was this really him?

No one in the stands could quite believe what they were seeing. No one could quite believe that ‘10-2-23-6’ was possible for an Indian fast bowler. No one could quite believe that this was Nehra. No one could stop smiling. It was surreal. It felt like watching an impossible dream come true.

Some spells… some knocks… go on to define careers and as he lined up to bowl the final over of his career; the final over of the match against New Zealand that night in Durban came to mind again. To many in India, it will always represent what the left-armer at his best was capable of delivering… to many it will remain the high point of a ‘what-if’ career… to many it will always remain quintessentially Nehra.