IPL 2018: "I know Virat Kohli inside out," says Ashish Nehra

Ashish Nehra joined Royal Challenges Bangalore in IPL 2018 as their bowling coach.

Ashish Nehra with Virat Kohli | GETTY

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowling coach Ashish Nehra spoke about his bonding with the RCB skipper Virat Kohli. The former India pacer Nehra was appointed in the coaching staff along with Gary Kirsten for the IPL 2018. 

Nehra speaking about his relationship with Kohli said he knows him inside out. "Virat has groomed in front of me. I have played a lot of cricket with him. I know Kohli inside out. We share a good report as well," Nehra told NDTV in an interview.

"This kind of relation is very important between coach and a captain. Ultimately, it is the captain who runs the show. We are there to support him. I have seen Kohli grow as a person and a cricketer as well," Nehra said.

Talking about his new role after retirement, Nehra said RCB has a better bowling unit this time compare to previous seasons, where the franchise completely relied on batting. "It is totally a different ball game," Nehra said.

"When you are playing, you look after your body, match and your own cricket. But, when you are a mentor or coach, then you have to look after the whole team. It will be a different experience for me. I am looking forward for an exciting season," he said.

"I have played lot of IPL matches. I have played with these boys. I know how T20 works. So, I will try share my experience with these boys. More than coaching, the right word for me is man management," Nehra said.

The veteran pacer also expressed his view on the on-going ball-tampering scandal happened during the third Test between Australia and South Africa. The Aussie batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper to alter the ball's condition. 

"This is not the first time something like this has happened. It happened in the past as well, especially in Test cricket. But, I will give credit to Steve Smith who accepted that he has made mistake," Nehra said.

He asked the cricketing world to move on. "Smith is someone who has done so well for Australia cricket. Whatever happened has happened. Let's move forward. We are human being and we make mistakes," the former pacer added.

 
 

By Sihyeu Singh - 27 Mar, 2018

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