Twitterati bid adieu to Ashish Nehra for his unforgettable contribution to Indian cricket

The 90s breed of cricketers’ journey with the Indian team finally came to an end after veteran fast bowler Ashish Nehra hung his boot on 1st November playing the first Twenty20 International against New Zealand. The fast bowler whose career was plagued with a plethora of injuries had a career span of over 18 years. He finished his career on a winning note beating the Kiwis by 53 runs. Since his international debut in 1999 against Sri Lanka in Colombo, he played total 164 International matches across the formats.

Following his unimpressive Test debut at Colombo, he was overlooked before resuming a remarkable journey under the brave captaincy of Sourav Ganguly at the beginning of this new millennium. Nehra became among the bright fast bowling prospects for India alongside Javagal Sreenath and Zaheer Khan in the 2003 World Cup where India finished as runners-up.

Before the left-arm seamer slumped to career-threatening injuries he had an epic World Cup in South Africa. Though his career was never lifted, 6 for 23 against England will always be written in golden word as it is the best bowling spell by an Indian bowler at the World Cup stage.

However, this is not his only remarkable performance, he held his nerve in the final over against Pakistan in the first ODI of the bilateral series against Pakistan in 2004. He brought India the win against Pakistan in the semi-final of 2011 World Cup. After a decade Nehra became one of the best T20I bowlers.

Now, on the day of his farewell from all forms of cricket, he went home wicketless as skipper Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya dropped catches off his bowling. On the final day of his office, the cricketing community ushered praises on him and congratulated him for his unforgettable contribution to the Indian cricket.

Here are some of the best tweets thanking Nehraji and congratulating him on a wonderful career: