Hemang Badani shares fond memories about Nehra on social media

The former Indian cricketer Hemang Badani has congratulated Ashish Nehra on a wonderful career in a video he shared on social media. Nehra played the final match of his illustrious career on Wednesday in the first T20I against New Zealand in his home ground. The Men in Blue gave him a winning farewell as India won the match comfortably by 53 runs. However, Badani has shared some fond memories of him with the veteran pacer which proves he was a fighter and a reliable bowler as well.

Nehra underwent as many as twelve surgeries in his injury-prone career but always made a stunning comeback in the national side. Moreover, he got accustomed to the T20 format as well and mastered the art of bowling in it. Badani, who played for India 40 ODIs and four Test matches, shared the dressing room with the left-arm pacer in his career which spanned from 2000 to 2004.

Dada aap daro mat, Main hoon na

Hemang Badani posted a video of him wishing Nehra all the luck for the second innings of his life on his Facebook page. “I would like to congratulate Ashish Nehra on a wonderful career, injury-prone, but I think it has lasted well. He has done extremely well for himself especially in the shorter formats, be it T20s or the ODIs. I think in the last few years, he was the best left-arm seamer India ever had. With Zaheer Khan, he has been someone who has done so well for us. I wish him the best in the future,” he said.

Badani also recalled some of the memories when he was part of the team. He told that during the Test series in Zimbabwe in 2001, Nehra used to put his left leg in the bucket full of ice for almost 10 -15 minutes to overcome the injury. He again used to bowl the very next day and repeat everything. He also hailed him for being such a dedicated sportsperson in his life. The 40-year-old also shared an experience when Nehra Ji had assured Sourav Ganguly of winning the game in Karachi in 2004 when India had just 9 runs to defend in the last over.

“In Karachi, we went on to score around 340-350. Pakistan needed about nine runs off the last over and there was a bit of a confusion at the ground as who is going to bowl the last over. Nehra was standing at fine leg at that time runs into Sourav and he says, “Dada, main daalta hun, aap daro mat, main match win karke dunga.” (Dada, I will bowl the last over. Don’t Worry, I will win you the game). As it happened, he just gave three runs and got a crucial wicket of a set Moin Khan and won us the game,” Badani concluded but not before praising Ashish for having a big heart and being skilful.

Watch the full video here: