Ashish Nehra to retire: Has pacer contributed enough to Indian cricket to merit farewell match?

MSK Prasad and his team of selectors will have a very tough time in ensuring that they are not branded a “bunch of jokers.” That phrase describing the national selectors was coined by Mohinder Amarnath, and successive selectors took an awfully long time to live it down. Now, after a couple of decades, another cricketer has come along and his shenanigans, if allowed to pass, will once again confer that derisive sobriquet on the national selectors. [caption id=“attachment_4135777” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ashish Nehra has a total of 235 international wickets to his credit from 163 appearances. AFP[/caption] If reports are anything to go by, Prasad and his band of selectors will have to name only 13 players for the T20 internationals against New Zealand at New Delhi on 1 November as the 14th player, Ashish Nehra, has selected himself. Luckily he has not named himself as skipper, but the fact that he has chosen himself as a player, and as per reports, announced that he would retire from all forms of the game after the match is a bit hard to understand. To put the left-arm fast bowler’s career record in perspective, he made his Test debut in 1999, and in the last 18 years has played 17 Tests ie about one Test per year and picked up just 44 wickets. He has featured in 120 ODIs and at 157 wickets has averaged a little more than one wicket per match while his 26 T20Is have fetched a similar average and a tally of 34 wickets. Thus he has not exactly set the Yamuna on fire. Besides being an average India pace bowler, he has not played a first-class match since 2013. So how does he have the gumption to select himself while players with 10 times his talent, ability and record have faded away without a whimper? One of a handful of cricketers allowed to quit on his terms and at a venue of his choosing was Sachin Tendulkar. But then he had brands, sponsors and crores of rupees riding on him for his record 200th Test. Besides, he truly was an extraordinary cricketer and had a matchless record to back him. Additionally, the BCCI too benefitted enormously from the hype and marketing of that marquee match. Tendulkar, though, was an exception. Virender Sehwag, star of many an Indian victory, had 23 Test tons and 15 ODI hundreds. Yet, he was not given the privilege of choosing his retirement match. “A sort of sadness shall always remain in my mind that I was not allowed to retire while playing,” the veteran of 104 Tests and 251 ODIs had told the media. Sehwag was dropped from the national team in 2013 and finally quit the game in 2015. So many other outstanding cricketers, GR Vishwanath, Syed Kirmani, VVS Laxman, Ajit Wadekar, EAS Prasanna, Dilip Vengsarkar, Zaheer Khan, et al too had to quit or were dropped before they were mentally ready to accept it. That being the case, why should Nehra be different? He is not a patch on any of the veterans named. In fact, his record pales into insignificance when compared to theirs. Even then, the fact that the selectors and, by extension, the CEO, CoA and the BCCI, have given him extraordinary leeway is nothing short of amazing. Take the Yo-Yo physical fitness test that is now mandatory for selection into national teams. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh had failed it recently while Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara sailed through before joining their state team for their Ranji Trophy campaign. Nehra does not even play Ranji Trophy and as such his fitness may not be right up there with the rest. In any case, even when he was at his fittest he could never have matched a Virat Kohli or Manish Pandey in speed, recovery or agility. Yet, for all his limitations, it would not be Nehra’s fault if he was part of the team for the T20I on 1 November. The selectors had already undermined themselves by agreeing to choose him for the ongoing T20 series against Australia. They had nothing to go by — no match fitness, no Yo-Yo test, no recent track record, nothing at all. Yet, despite having younger, fitter and better bowlers, they chose him. Nehra did not play the first or second T20 match. He could have played only at the expense of Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Jasprit Bumrah, both miles ahead of him in terms of bowling ability and fitness. It remains to be seen if he would be sneaked into the playing eleven for the final T20 game. Actually, Nehra should take a leaf out of legend Rahul Dravid’s book. The former skipper and batting star who had played 164 Tests and 344 ODIs with great distinction chose to announce his retirement two months after playing his final Test. Asked if he did not want to end his career by walking off the field of play to a standing ovation, he said: “Just to keep playing for the sake of playing just one Test match, I don’t think that’s right.” Nehra, whatever his clout that he can ride roughshod over selectors and selection procedures, must pause to ponder if he wants to be reviled or hailed as he walks into the sunset. As for Prasad and gang, they must realise that they are being paid big money to discharge their duty towards Indian cricket with utmost sincerity. Being bullied into submission by someone else’s agenda is not part of their job description.