Two ‘youngsters’, aged 36 and 39, hogged the limelight at the JSCA International Cricket Stadium on Friday night. Chennai Super Kings’ Michael Hussey started off with a stunning age-defying full-stretched catch early in the evening and backed it up with a match-winning half-century in the run-chase. On the other hand it was 36-year old, ‘Mr. Consistent’ with the ball this season - Ashish Nehra - who put the brakes on a power packed Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up, picking up his fifth three-wicket haul this season. Among his three scalps were those of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

For Nehra it was almost like just another day in the park where he had been thrown the ball and asked to do his job. He did his job well and how. With 22 wickets this season, Nehra has been CSK’s go-to bowler when it has come to picking up wickets upfront. Ask him what has been the key to his consistency this season and Nehra insists he is the same bowler, doing the same things, but at an age and in a format that has taken everyone by surprise. In a chat with iplt20.com, Nehra throws light on his match-winning performance and why numbers don’t always do justice.

Do you believe this is your best IPL season till date?

If you see stats-wise, then definitely yes. But I can’t just say that this is the best IPL I have had till date. Even in 2008 when I played for Mumbai Indians or for the Delhi Daredevils in 2009 and 2010, I was bowling really well. At that time obviously I was five years younger as well. But when you pick wickets, people remember you more. In T20 sometimes it happens that you are bowling really well but you don’t get wickets. This time I am among the wickets and I am picking up wickets upfront which has really helped my team. I have got three or four Man of the Match awards this season and that says it all. For a fast bowler to pick up that many awards in one season is not easy.

A four-wicket haul and a three-wicket haul against the same opposition this season. You seem to have developed some liking towards the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

(Laughs) That is just a coincidence, you know. I knew you will ask me this but it is just a coincidence. Having said that, a lot of preparation goes into each game. Every game you play, you do a lot of homework against your opposition. The batsmen too prepare themselves to bat against the opposition bowlers. You have to realise that if you are playing 14 to 15 games, you are not going to perform (all the time), but majority of the times you are going to perform if you are on top of your game.

The pitch looked a tough one for the batsmen. But as a bowler what was the key to be successful here?

It was a very slow pitch and picking up wickets and getting their top order was crucial. We were successful in doing that by picking up Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers; otherwise they would have scored atleast 160. Chasing that much would have been really difficult. You could see that even chasing 140 we went right till the last over. It was a slow pitch and it was a lot helpful for a wrist spinner like Yuzvendra Chahal. Once the ball got old, it was a much better pitch to bowl on for a spinner than a fast bowler.

You have an important task of getting wickets upfront. Does your thinking process work around those lines when you walk out to bowl during that period?

On a pitch like this, it is very difficult to bowl slower deliveries in the first six overs because you have only two fielders outside the circle. But once the six overs are finished, you have to bowl well in the 6-18 over window. That is the time when you have to bowl a lot of slow balls or yorkers. You have to mix it up. Earlier tonight Virat Kohli hit a good length ball for a six and the ball with which I got the wicket wasn’t a great ball, but I got a wicket. Such things will happen in T20 but you have to be on top of your game at all times.

Take us through that Virat Kohli wicket because you came back to dismiss him after he hit you for that six.

This is the first time in my life that I have had my wicket-keeper stand up to the stumps. I wasn’t too sure about that move. But MS Dhoni came to me and said Virat is stepping out because the pitch is too slow and if he stood up to the wicket, it will stop him from stepping out. I agreed to that decision and Dhoni came up for one ball and I got the wicket. We all know that Kohli is an on-side player. But at times when you bowl to him to his strength, there will be deliveries which will go for runs. On a bad day that wicket delivery would have gone for a boundary, but at the same time the ball which went for six, on a good day, could have been nicked.

It went down to the last over with five runs required. How would you have bowled had you been in Harshal Patel’s shoes?

Five runs in the final over is always gettable, but it would have been a different story if we had had only one or two wickets in hand. Even after MS Dhoni got out, we knew we had R Ashwin who can bat well. It is not easy being a bowler in that situation. I don’t think there was much left for the bowler when you have only five runs to defend. Had I been Harshal Patel, I would have done the same thing that he did. But Harshal is more of a slower ball kind of a bowler; I would have instead looked to bowl more yorkers like what Mitchell Starc did.

With 22 wickets so far, it almost looks like you are CSK’s Mr. Consistent with the ball.

I have been bowling well over the last few years. Last year I managed to play only four games for CSK because I had a side strain after the first game. But even that time I did manage to play and came back in the last three games to pick up eight wickets. It is not that Ashish Nehra has changed. People are noticing it more because I am 36 and a guy at this age is doing something unbelievable in T20s. But I have been doing the same things that I have been doing over the last ten years.

Certainly pumped up before the final at Eden Gardens?

Absolutely! It will be a great atmosphere at the Eden Gardens with seventy to eighty thousand people. We lost against Mumbai Indians in the league stage and we will look to win. It will be an even contest but if we play to our potential we can beat Mumbai Indians and lift the trophy.