Kapil Dev wishes Ashish Nehra ahead of farewell match

NEW DELHI: Former India skipper Kapil Dev on Wednesday wished veteran pacer Ashish Nehra all the very best for his farewell game, the opening T20 International (T20I) against New Zealand at the Ferozshah Kotla later in the evening.

"For every sportsperson, the debut and farewell games are very special. After years of serving Indian cricket, Nehra deserves the farewell in front of his home crowd," the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper told reporters here.

Terming Nehra as a great ambassador of the game, Kapil said: "You served the country very well."

"Farewell Ashish Nehra" read a message above the sight screen amongst a plethora of sponsor names at the Ferozshah Kotla.

Wednesday's match will mark the end to an 18-year international career that started with a Test match against Sri Lanka in February 1999 in Colombo. 

Nehra was only a year older than how long his international career has gone on, and his domestic career has been even longer than that. 

His career has been blighted by injuries but he has been with India on quite a few important junctures. 

He was an integral part of the side that went to the final of the 2003 World Cup under Sourav Ganguly.

Nehra's most iconic moment on the field for India came during the 2003 World Cup against England when his 6/23 helped India to a comprehensive win.

He later went on to win the trophy in 2011 and led India's pace department when they reached the semi-final of the World T20 in 2016. 

Injuries forced him to bid adieu to Test cricket, where he took 44 wickets from 17 Tests.

His limited overs career was far more impressive with 157 wickets from 120 ODI matches, besides the 34 scalps from 26 T20 Internationals.