Important to be mentally strong to bowl in the death overs, says Ashish Nehra

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD paceman Ashish Nehra believes that every bowler needs to be mentally strong to bowl in the death overs.

The India veteran feels that the most important aspect of bowling in the final overs is to be able to hold the nerves after getting hit for a six in the first two deliveries. Ahead of the game against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede stadium, Nehra told PTI,

“My simple thinking about bowling in the death, number one is that mentally you have to be very strong. There are so many times I have seen that the first ball you bowl goes for a six, the second ball also goes for a six and you feel maybe this over is going for 25-26 runs. But if you are mentally strong and even if the first two balls go for sixes you can still bowl a 15-run over. Those 5- 10 runs make a big difference.”

Nehra quipped that if it were in his hands, he would have bowled every ball as a yorker, however, it isn’t that easy to bowl one.

“Everbody’s mindset is different. Yorker is one word which I hear in T20 cricket, the more and more I play. It is very easy to say like everyone says ‘Oh, bowl a yorker!’ because somebody who never bowled, he doesn’t know what it takes to bowl a Yorker. It is very easy to say go and bowl a yorker. If it’s in my hands to bowl good yorkers I can bowl six. It is not that easy.”

The 37-year-old stressed on the importance of recovery training in the nearly-two-months long tournament. 

“For me, recovery is as important as training. If I say it doesn’t make a difference, at my age I will be lying. At the age of 38, not only fast bowlers but even for a batsman it becomes difficult. You have to put in extra yards even for recovery or training or practice and that is what I have been doing.”

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