Nehra battled pain to bounce back as white-ball master, says Laxman

The left-arm pacer Nehra made his Test debut in 1999 and played 17 games for the country. He scalped 44 wickets in his brief stint with the red-ball

Former India batsman VVS Laxman on Wednesday heaped praises on veteran pacer Ashish Nehra and applauded him for dealing with his injuries during his cricket playing career.

As part of his initiative to tribute his Indian teammates who immensely influenced him, Laxman shared Nehra's photo on Twitter and captioned the post," A fragile body suggested a brief pace-bowling career, but Ashish Nehra battled through the pain barrier to keep bouncing back as a white-ball master. Repeated comebacks from injury were rewarded with a World Cup winner's medal in 2011 and a fitting farewell aged 38."

The left-arm pacer made his Test debut in 1999 and played 17 longest format games for the country. He scalped 44 wickets in his brief stint with the red-ball.

In 120 ODIs, he picked 157 wickets with an economy of under six while in 27 T20Is he bagged 34 wickets.

The fast bowler was hit with a long string of injuries right through his cricketing career. There were also years when he was not selected for the Indian team. He underwent as many as 12 surgeries and many other small setbacks.
 

He is best remembered for his superb bowling spell against England at Durban in the 2003 ICC World Cup, where he picked six wickets for just 23 runs.

He was also a part of the young Indian brigade that played the 2003 World Cup. The pinnacle of his career came in 2011 when India won the ICC World Cup under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He was part of the World Cup-winning squad.

On November 1, 2018, Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. He bowled his last ball at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, also his home ground, where the Virat Kohli-led team thrashed New Zealand by 53 runs in the first of three T20Is.