When it comes to taking pressure, Dhoni is the best: Nehra
Indian left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra on Monday hailed Indian skipper M S Dhoni as the “best captain under pressure.” The veteran also expressed his regret of not responding to the feelers from Dhoni for a Test comeback in 2009, which would have helped him in playing more than the 17 matches.
The 36-year old made a comeback into the Indian T20 team during India’s tour of Australia back in January and was also part of the Asia Cup and World T20 squads. After picking five wickets in five matches, he also made it to the World T20 Team of the Tournament alongside Player of the Tournament, Virat Kohli. Speaking in a special show organised by ABP News, the veteran pacer opened up about Indian limited-overs team captain M S Dhoni and his regret of not playing more Test matches.
Nehra, who made his debut for India back in 2001999, ranked Dhoni as the best when it comes to pressure, after seeing him keeping him his calm in tense situations.
"Right from my debut under Mohammed Azharuddin (in 1999), I have played under so many captains but when it comes to remaining cool and delivering under pressure, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best. I have not seen anyone who can remain so cool under pressure," said Nehra, reported PTI.
The veteran pacer also expressed his regret of not responding positively to the feelers from Dhoni and then coach Gary Kirsten, for a comeback into the Test side.
"In 2009, Dhoni and the then coach Gary Kirsten had asked me if I would like to make a Test comeback. I was around 30-31 then and should have responded positively but I was not very sure. When I look back, only two years back, at the age of 35, I had played six four-day matches in six weeks. So when I look back, I feel I should have played more than 17 Test matches," the senior pacer said.
When asked about the captaincy styles of Sourav Ganguly and M S Dhoni, and under whom did Nehra played his best cricket, the left-arm pacer chose to be diplomatic. said “When we played under Sourav, guys like myself, Yuvraj, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan were all very young. For us, Sourav's wish was our command as he had much more experience than all of us. If Dada said that something needs to be executed, we knew it had to be done.
"When I made a comeback under Dhoni in 2009, I was more matured and I knew more about my bowling and also could understand and relate to Dhoni's philosophy of captaincy. So it has also been an enjoyable experience under Dhoni," said Nehra.
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