Mumbai: The All Star Series inter-zonal Deodhar Trophy cricket competition saw the glimpses of the old sharp and foxy left-arm seam bowling of Ashish Nehra. The 27-year-old is striving with might to show his class, take wickets and draw the attention of the National selectors.

Rendered out of action for well over a year owing to a back ailment, the seamer, who once demonstrated his ability to rout sides in one-dayers, is making steady progress.

On a sporting track at the Wankhede Stadium for the North-South clash, Nehra bamboozled Barrington Rowland and K. Shahabuddin with lovely deliveries.

Pitching the ball up, Nehra knocked down the middle stump, and in the second spell, angled a short delivery that nicked the bat and went straight to the `keeper. Nehra had set up the two right-handed batsmen.

His exertion may be a far cry from the days when former India coach John Wright described him as "a bowler equipped with genuine wicket-taking deliveries."

But reported to have generated speeds well into the 130s in the tournament, he's demonstrated sufficiently that he's not lost the variations to keep the batsmen guessing.

Ishant Sharma also impressed with the old ball on Thursday. The right-arm fast-medium bowler took 13 wickets in the three-Test series against New Zealand under-19, but was not as successful in the only ODI he played in New Zealand.

Central Zone's J.P. Yadav also had a good run. Haryana's Joginder Sharma has bowled well in patches and so has U.P.'s R.P. Singh.

Bengal's Ranadeb Bose and Punjab's V.R.V. Singh have been very disappointing in a competition dominated by seamers, but the spinners — Ramesh Powar, Saurasish Lahiri and Murali Kartik have had their good times too.

The Amritsar-born left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma has struck big blows with the bat. He's yet to dismiss a batsman in a first-class match, but those who have seen his development feel that he would be in the limelight as a left-arm spinning all-rounder soon.

The North-East clash on Saturday and West-South match on Sunday would bring to a close a competition that began at Motera on February 25.

The teams: North Zone (from): Dinesh Mongia (capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Karan Goel, Shikhar Dhawan, Yashpal Singh, Pankaj Dharmani, Joginder Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Rajat Bhatia, Bipul Sharma, Sarandeep Singh, Paras Dogra, Abid Nabi, V.R.V Singh.

East Zone (from): Deep Dasgupta (capt.), Wriddhman Saha, Pravez Aziz, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Manoj Tiwary, Rohan Gavaskar, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Mihir Diwakar, Ranadeb Bose, S.S. Paul, Saurasish Lahiri, Abu Nechim, Timir Chanda, Debasis Mohanty, Bikas Pati, Shibsagar Singh.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail