157 one day international wickets. A bowling economy rate of 5.22, which if you think about today’s exceptionally challenging and quite batting dominant standards is quite impressive? So that beckons a question, after all! Against these numbers and such performances should Ashish Nehra become the white ball bowling coach of the Indian men’s national team? Perhaps you have your say in this. Perhaps you have some other opinion on this that may not necessarily be towards the positive.
But truth is, a certain Sanjay Manjrekar believes he most definitely should.
The background for this particular question, truth be told, came at the back of the recent IPL runner’s up Gujarat Titans being so excellently coached by none other than Nehra himself.
So here is what Manjrekar happened to say about the tall former left arm fast bowler-
“Ashish Nehra is a hardcore street smart cricketer. If you talk cricket with him, he’s not someone who will get too emotional about it. He will be able to look at the problems that his team has. And I love those kinds of coaches who are very clinical about the way they handle their teams. So, a sharp reader of the game. Plus, he’s somebody who’s not thinking too much outside cricket or trying to please somebody. Or playing some kind of games to survive or keep certain people happy.”
But that’s not all, there was more insightful talk that Manjrekar happened to share about Ashish Nehra. He would say
“He has made that job a very simple one. I have the privilege of knowing him. He’s not the sort of guy who gets affected by success as a coach. Not the sort of coach who would take too much credit for the successes. A simple guy who puts in the hard yards. So if at all India is looking for a T20 coach, then this is the guy who has given the results. It’s an amazing record that he has. He’ll be able to run the Indian team.”
