| Nehal Wadhera | |
| Birth Date: | 4 September 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Ludhiana, Punjab, India |
| Batting: | Left-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm legbreak |
| Role: | Top order batter |
| Club1: | Punjab |
| Year1: | 2023–present |
| Club2: | Mumbai Indians |
| Year2: | 2023 |
| Clubnumber2: | 19 |
| Type2: | T20 |
| Hidedeliveries: | true |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | [IPL] |
| Matches1: | 25 |
| Runs1: | 576 |
| Bat Avg1: | 21.35 |
| 100S/50S1: | 0/2 |
| Top Score1: | 56 |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 2/– |
| Source: | https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/nehal-wadhera-1151273 ESPNcricinfo |
| Date: | 20 April |
| Year: | 2023 |
Nehal Wadhera (born 4 September 2000) is an Indian cricketer, who is a left-handed batsman and an occasional legbreak bowler.[1] He plays for Punjab cricket team in domestic cricket, having previously represented the India under-19 cricket team.[2]
Wadhera was born at Ludhiana, a city in the Indian state of Punjab.[3] He first started playing cricket at the age of nine. Initially, he used to play as a specialist batsman and put in long hours to work on his fitness.[4] He is often referred to by his nickname "new-age Yuvraj Singh" for his middle-order performances and similarity in batting style with Yuvraj Singh.[5] [6] He started playing cricket under the guidance of his childhood coach Charanjit Bhangu. He was coached by Harjinder Singh in age level cricket, who saw "glimpses of Yuvraj" on him.[7] He received his coaching at the Ludhiana District Cricket Association, and was graduated from Satish Chander Dhawan Government College.[8]
He played for Punjab under-16 and under-19 cricket teams in Vijay Merchant Trophy and Cooch Behar Trophy from 2015 to 2018, with 529 runs in the 2017–18 season.[9] He was then selected to play for different tiers of India under-19 cricket team.[10] He made his under-19 debut for India on 17 July 2018, against Sri Lanka in a four-day match and scored 82 runs.[11] He also became the third cricketer from Ludhiana to play for India at any level.[12] In August 2018, he was named in India's squad for the 2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup.[13]
In April 2022, during the semi-final of Inter-District U-23 Cricket Championship, he smashed 578 runs in an innings, surpassing Brian Lara's record of highest score in an innings in a four-day match.[14] He also became the fastest player to reach 200, 300, 400 and 500 runs in any level of recognized cricket, and was honoured by Junior Chamber International for his record.[15]
In December 2020, Wadhera was named in Punjab's squad for the 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.[16] In December 2022, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians at a price of ₹20 lakh, to play for them in the Indian Premier League.[17] He became the third player from Ludhiana district to get IPL call-up.[18]
In January 2023, he was selected to play for Punjab in the 2022–23 Ranji Trophy.[19] He made his first-class debut for Punjab on 3 January 2023, against Gujarat.[20] He made a match-winning century in his debut match, scoring 123 runs guiding Punjab to a 380-run victory.[21] He struck his maiden double hundred in his just third first-class game,[22] scoring 214 runs against Madhya Pradesh on 18 January 2023.[23] He won the player of the match award,[24] and finished his maiden first-class season with 376 runs from seven innings.[25]
He made his Twenty20 debut for Mumbai Indians on 2 April 2023, against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2023 Indian Premier League.[26] He impressed on his debut match,[27] scoring a quick fire 21 runs off 13 balls including two sixes.[28] On 6 May 2023, he scored his maiden IPL half-century against the Chennai Super Kings.[29] He scored 241 runs from 14 innings in that IPL season.[30] In June 2023, he was replaced by Jayant Yadav, to play for North Zone in the 2023 Duleep Trophy.[31] He made his List A debut for Punjab on 23 November 2023, against Baroda in the 2023–24 Vijay Hazare Trophy.[32]
In July 2023, he was named in India A's squad as a standby player for the 2023 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.[33]