New Delhi, Jan 15: Left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra was last month picked in the Indian Twenty20 International team for the Australia tour. But the veteran speedster finds himself not good enough to represent his domestic side - Delhi as he was ignored for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament's Super League stage.
In the Super League phase Delhi were playing Gujarat today (January 15) at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground in Mumbai. Delhi, led by Gautam Gambhir, had no place for Nehra, a World Cup winner, in the squad. (Nehra aims to play World T20)
With Nehra set to travel to Australia for the 3-match T20I series, questions are being asked on why the Delhi selectors failed to pick Nehra.
However, a Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) official has justified the non-inclusion of Nehra due to the bowler's 'bad habit'.
"Nehra's got a bad habit of picking and choosing domestic games, which disturbs the balance of the team. It's not good for the youngsters in the team either, and certainly not fair on the selectors, who were upset with him after he played just two games in Baroda before leaving the team. And this has happened many times in the last few years.
"In recent years, no one had a clue about when he would play and when he wouldn't. This time, though, the selectors seemed to have put their foot down and said this can't go on. Hence, he was excluded from the team. They feel that while he can play for India and the Chennai Super Kings, he can't play for Delhi as long as he doesn't show enough commitment for his domestic team, which in the first place helped him become an India player," a DDCA official told "The Times of India" on Thursday (January 14).
Nehra, who has played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 8 T20Is, has not represented India since the World Cup semi-final against Pakistan on March 30, 2011. After his comeback to the Indian team, he had said his target was to play in World Twenty20.
With India-Australia T20I series starting on January 26, Nehra will be heading into the contests with no match practice.
OneIndia News