Ashish Nehra could not have asked for a better New Gift this year.  Nehra was retained in the Indian team for the tri series to be played in Bangladesh in spite of dishing out poor performances match after match in the bilateral series between India and Sri Lanka played a few weeks back.  Nehra was leaking runs being belted for boundaries and sixes against Tilakratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and company.  Nehras follies did not count in the end because India won the series comfortably.  In almost every match Nehra went for eight an over and against the top order he went for ten to twleve runs an over. 

Nehra got a perfect opportunity to return the gift to selectors by bowling India to a won as Sri Lanka were under lot of pressure with 37 runs required of 27 deliveries with inexperienced and incapable tail enders to folow. Nehra could not have come to bowl at a better time because Samaraweera who is known for grafting runs was at the crease with newcomer Perrera.  It is a well known fact that it is easier for bowlers to contain grafters as grafters like Rahul Dravid, Attapattu or Samaraveera  because they often difficult to sustain their rhythm throughout the innings and Samaraweera belongs to that category.  Samaraveera,s task was tougher considering the fact that he had  batsmen less capable than him at the crease and it meant he had the dual responsibility of anchoring runs and scoring runs at a fair clip which is never easy for any batsmen leave alone a grafter.

What Nehra did was just the opposite when the situation was tailor made to redeem himself.  Nehra gifted away the match to Sri Lanka with a spate of no balls, loose deliveries and free hits conceding17 runs in 3 legitimate deliveries bringing down the equation to a mere 20 runs in 24 deliveries from a seemingly impossible 37 runs in 27 deliveries.  While Ashish Nehra broke millions of Indian hearts, cricket crazy millions in Sri Lankans would be rejoicing for Ashish Nehra gave them the perfect New Year gift.

It is very common to hear Indian commentators talking about bowlers swinging the ball both ways.  The commentators are correct to certain extent because the bowlers generally bowl such deliveries to batsman that batsmen like Dilshan swing their bats to both sides of the wicket to score runs.