Ashish Nehra has been the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes every time the Doubting Thomases write his cricketing epitaph.
And the ever-smiling pacer is far from finished even after hitting the wiser side of 30s, enjoying his cricket as he outwits opposition batsmen with pace and guile.
"At my age (he will be 38 next month), I am still a fast bowler. I was never the conventional 125-128 kmph bowler. Even today with the new ball, I set myself a target of bowling 138 kmph and I have to do that. Speed is not everything but if need be I can crank it upto 140 plus in T20s also," Nehra said.
On being asked whether he feels the pressure of being wanted by Kohli as much as he was by Ganguly and Dhoni, he said, "If anyone says that he doesn't feel pressure at international level is lying. But at this stage of my career more than pressure, I feel a sense of responsibility as a senior cricketer — to help young bowlers with inputs. Me and MS are two guys from different age groups. Our job is to bring a sense of calmness, our experience in this team."
Asked how much white ball cricket has evolved since the time he made his debut more than 15 years ago, Nehra's response is straight and to the point.
"Obviously, with rule changes, the game has evolved but basics of fast bowling remain the same. You can bowl as many yorkers or slower deliveries. But you have to bowl an outswinger, inswinger and one straight delivery.
In India, normally a tearaway quick faces problems with variations and the ones who have variation are medium pacers to say the least. It's a complex phenomenon and Nehra tells why.
"In India if you are 140kmph plus bowler, people are happy that the bloke is quick. If he doesn't get wickets, then people would cite lack of variation being his problem. For a swing bowler inside 130 kmph, his lack of wickets will be attributed to lack of pace. But in international cricket, pace alone can't win you matches," said Nehra, who has 157 wickets from 120 ODIs.
Nehra also busted the myth that one can consistently bowl at 150 kmph. Not even Shoaib Akhtar or Brett Lee has done it consistently.
"Look, I am not a great fan of speedometer where even slower ones are shown to be 140 kmph. As far as 150 kmph is concerned, I don't think there's anyone who can bowl that fast consistently. May be 2-3 balls in an entire spell."
He has had a series of injuries and asked if that could be a problem considering the Indian team needs him in England during Champions Trophy, Nehra said: "It's just that in India, it's very easy to create perception about a player without knowing if he is injured or unfit.
"Poor Mohammed Shami, who has last played ODI in 2015 has had knee surgery and then hamstring. In my case, I have had too many freak injuries. But at my age, I don't care about perceptions. If team management wants me and I am fit, I would like to play the Champions Trophy. I am preparing for it and that's why I played two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches after 16 months. It felt good."