Abhishek Mohan Nair (born 8 October 1983) is a former Indian international
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er. He is an all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm medium pace. He played
first class cricket for
Mumbai and also represented
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are a franchise cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League and is the most successful team of the tournament with 5 titles. Founded in 2008, the team is owned by India's biggest conglo ...
,
Kings XI Punjab,
Pune Warriors India and
Rajasthan Royals in the
Indian Premier League. He played in his 100th first-class match in November 2018.
Domestic career
Nayar is a useful right-arm medium-pacer who has time and again got Mumbai crucial breakthrough in his young first-class career. He does not quite have the pace to be a regular attacking option but it's with his left-hand batting that he becomes a natural selection.
Capable of crease occupation as well as hitting the ball hard, Nayar chipped in with vital contributions in Mumbai's successful
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...
campaign in 2006.
The first-class century narrowly eluded him for a time - he made 97 against Gujarat in 2006 but when it came it was a big one, 152 against
Karachi Urban
Karachi cricket teams competed in the Pakistani first-class cricket tournaments the Patron's Trophy and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1953-54 to 2018-19. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the city of Karachi has been represented in the Quaid-e-Azam ...
in the
Mohammad Nissar Trophy.
Nayar was bought by the lucrative Indian Premier League's Mumbai franchise in early 2008 and enjoyed regular playing time as the tournament kicked off. In the final of the 2008/09 Ranji Trophy, he made a vital 99 that helped set up Mumbai's 38th triumph and, after being on the fringes of the national side.
He was the second highest run-scorer in the 2012/13 Ranji Trophy season scored 966 runs for Mumbai including three centuries and eight 50s. He also picked up 19 wickets to play an important role in the team's 40th Ranji Trophy title.
He selected to play for India A against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in a tour match in February. Nayar was not a part of the India A and Board President's XI squads which was announced earlier.
In 2013, Nayar sent down 10 wides and a no-ball in a 17-ball over in the semi-final of the inter-zone
Deodhar Trophy. He equal record of
Mohammad Sami holds the record in ODIs with his famous 17-ball over against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup match in 2004.
Nayar himself had handy figures of 7-0-49-2 with wickets of two specialist batsmen,
Hanuma Vihari and
CM Gautam
Chidhambaram Muralidharen Gautam (born 8 March 1986) is an India domestic cricketer. He played for Karnataka cricket team before moving to Goa.
Domestic career
For nearly five seasons Gautam was a fixture in the Karnataka line-up breaking into ...
. Nayar didn't look pleased with some of the wide calls, but later said it was more disappointment than dissent.
Nayar came into bowl in the 12th over of South Zone's innings and began with the wicket of opener Vihari first ball. The wide malaise began with the third delivery of the over.
Fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th were all wides. All bar one of those were off-side wides. Nayar even tried to shorten his run-up but to no avail.
He scored a century along with the
Vijay Zol ensured India A held on for a draw against New Zealand "A" in Visakhapatnam on the final day in September 2013.
In
Challenger Trophy 2013, he responded with a counterattacking 91 off 73 balls against
Delhi as India Blues was reduced from 56 for 0 to 66 for 3. Against India Red, he scored unbeaten 75 off 39 balls as India Blues scored 345 runs in 50 overs.
After the
2018 IPL season, he was named as the mentor and head coach of the first-of-its-kind,
KKR
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strateg ...
academy, to guide the youngsters of KKR during the off-season.
Ahead of the
2018–19 Ranji Trophy
The 2018–19 Ranji Trophy was the 85th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament that took place in India between November 2018 and February 2019. Vidarbha were the defending champions. The final took place between ...
, he transferred from Mumbai to
Puducherry. In November 2018, he played in his 100th first-class match.
International career.
He was named in India's squad for the ODI tour of the
West Indies where he made his debut. In three matches, he played in one innings where he was not able to score a single run in the seven balls he faced and was nearly bowled. While bowling, he bowled three overs and gave away 17 runs without picking up any wickets.
Coaching career
He was appointed as assistant coach for
Kolkata Knight Riders and has been appointed the head coach of
Trinbago Knight Riders
Personal life
Abhishek was born in Secunderabad to
Keralite immigrants Mohan Nair and Lekha Nair. His parents were originally from
Neyyattinkara
Neyyattinkara, is a Municipal Town and a major industrial and commercial hub located at the southern tip of Thiruvananthapuram metropolitan area in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala State, and also the headquarters of Neyyattinkara Taluk. The ...
in Kerala. He is one of the best players coming from Shivaji Park, Mumbai. He married Natasha Sheikh in 2014. Abhishek Nair shares good friendship with Rohit Sharma.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayar, Abhishek
Indian cricketers
India One Day International cricketers
1983 births
Mumbai Indians cricketers
Punjab Kings cricketers
Pune Warriors India cricketers
Mumbai cricketers
West Zone cricketers
India Green cricketers
India Blue cricketers
India Red cricketers
Brothers Union cricketers
Living people
Malayali people
People from Secunderabad
Cricketers from Hyderabad, India
Puducherry cricketers