Ashish Nehra is widely regarded as one of the best pacers produced by India and his record at the highest level is impressive too. In fact, his international career spanned over 18 years which is staggering for a fast bowler and that too after going through numerous surgeries. However, Nehra’s journey to success wasn’t quite smooth. While featuring in former Indian teammate Aakash Chopra’s chat show Aakashvani, the former left-arm pacer went down memory lane and recalled how he used to get his shoes stitched after every innings of his debut Test against Sri Lanka in 1999. Ashish Nehra Claims Lakshmipathy Balaji Was More Popular Than Imran Khan During India’s Tour of Pakistan in 2003–04.

The topic was initiated when Chopra asked his former teammate about the brand of shoes he used to have in those days, when getting premium quality of sports shoes was a big deal. To which Nehra said: “I wore them for the first time in Ranji Trophy and had only one pair which I took them with me to play in my first Test match in 1999. I still remember I used to get the shoe stitched after each innings and that is how it survived the entire Test.”

Further in the discussion, Aakash also reminded his old friend about how he used to practice bowling at the Delhi Cantonment Railway station with the club’s bowling coach. “I wasn’t alone. There used to be a bunch of us who would go to drop sir at the railway station. He would ask us to show him different bowling actions. I remember we would pick up the stones at teh station and bowl with them,” Nehra said in reply.

The former pacer, who scalped 235 wickets in international cricket, bid adieu to all forms of cricket in 2017. Since then, he has become an active commentator and his views and comments from the box are being loved by one and all.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 04, 2020 07:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).