Ashish Nehra dropped from Delhi team for his "bad habit"

Ashish Nehra, who has been selected to play for India in the ongoing Australia tour, has been axed from the Delhi team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

Nehra made his comeback to the national side after a five year hiatus. The left arm pacer last played for India in the 2011 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan. Out with a finger injury, the 37 year old cricketer had patiently waited for his comeback to the national side.

Nehra, all set to travel down under for the three match T20 series, has however, been dropped from the Delhi side due to a ‘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," a Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) official told said, justifying the bowler’s exclusion from the domestic side.

The DDCA official also added, "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.”

Vijay Dahiya, Delhi’s coach for the domestic tournament streered away from any controversy with his comment on the incident. He said, “You'll have to ask the selectors. He (Nehra) didn't play after two games in Baroda because we wanted to give a chance to the youngsters,"

Nehra has played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 8 T20Is for the men in blues. With a lot of accolades to his name, he had featured regularly during his prime in the top 10 bowlers’ rankings. Nehra was the second highest wicket taker between 2009 and 2011 in ICC records. Having picked up 44 test, 157 ODI and 13 T20I wickets, the pacer is all set to make a mark against Australia. However, he may have to get back in favuor with the DDCA to play for Delhi.