Arrey badi purani baat hai (It’s a very old story),” says Ashish Nehra when asked about his Durban connection. “I’m surprised that people still remember me here. I got down at the airport this morning and someone greeted me saying, ‘Hi, you are back. We still remember your spell’,” he adds with a grin.

Four surgical scars on his ankle tell the story of last six years. Ever since that 2003 World Cup game against England, in which he bowled a miraculous spell of six for 23, the lanky left-arm seamer has been living in flashback. Nehra has been on five trips to South Africa for rehabilitation and knows the roads of Johannesburg well. But on Monday, it was an emotional return to Durban.

“People have asked me how much I remember of that day. I remember everything — strapping my ankle, icing it, taking pain-killing injections and taking courage from Dada’s (Sourav Ganguly) insistence on playing me in the XI,” he says.

“Coming back here is special. The team management decided to give me extra rest to recover from a side strain, so I will start my IPL campaign here. Hopefully this venue can help me bowl another dream spell and revive my career,” he says even as reverberating thunder highlights the possibility that Tuesday’s matches may be washed out. “Don’t worry about these rains. They come and go. The matches will still take place,” he says, almost hopefully.

Friends forever

Weather permitting, the speedster will revive another old friendship on the field — with Virender Sehwag. “We played in the Irani Cup but it’s been a while since we played together in the same team at the international arena. I think it was the Zimbabwe tour,” Sehwag says.

... contd.