Speedster Ashish Nehra is ready to make a comeback to Test Cricket after having played his last test cricket match six and a half years ago. He will be participating in the upcoming Test series in South Africa, this December.
Nehra said “I had never said that I will not play Test cricket again. It was just that initially after my comeback, I wanted to concentrate on the ODIs and Twenty20s. Now that I am back in the national side for one and half years, I feel confident to make a comeback in the Test fold. I will like to make myself available for selection during the South Africa Test series”.
He played against Pakistan in 2004 and this senior pacer has taken 44 wickets from 17 Test matches which is apart from his 146 ODI scalps from 108 matches.
He would not be playing against New Zealand, but would be travelling to NCA to continue with his strict fitness regime.
The 31 year old said “I am planning to play one Ranji Trophy for Delhi before the New Zealand ODI series to check how my body is holding. I am enjoying my cricket at the moment and I don’t see any reason why I can’t make a comeback”.
The pacer has gained confidence ever since he made a comeback where he played against West Indies in 2009 and he has not missed out on a single game due to injury.
He said “For me the top-most priority is the World Cup next year.
That is why I have been so choosy about playing in the longer version. But after World Cup, there is lot of Test cricket to be played as India would be playing against England, West Indies. I will like to again play Test cricket with the same intensity that I used to at the start of my career”.
This availability of the speedster spells good news for Zaheer Khan who has not always received the support from the other end, especially with Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma being erratic some times.
Nehra also said “Although I have enjoyed a good phase during 2002-03, I am also enjoying this phase as I have been injury-free. I have been bowling well and have been training hard. So things look good at the moment”.
He refuses to get drawn into comparing Sourav Ganguly’s team and Dhoni’s team when he was asked which side is the better one. All he had to say was “Each side had its share of strengths. That was a great side under Sourav and this side under Dhoni is also showing tremendous results. It helps when you are winning as you start enjoying the game”.
With the major breakthrough in the Jigeesha ghosh murder case the Delhi police on Monday claimed to have solved the two sensational murder cases of Soumya Viswanathan, producer with an English news channel was found murdered in her Zen, on Nelson Mandela Marg in New Delhi on September 30, 2008, while returning from the office and Jigeesha Ghosh, a resident of Vasant Vihar in south Delhi, had left her home for office in Noida on Tuesday but did not return home. Her body was discovered by Faridabad police in the bushes near Surajkund on March 19. In both the case though, one thing is similar that there was no sexual assault attempted making it a theft case. The Delhi police arrested four person in this connection and also recovered the weapons and vehicles used in both the crimes.