| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 4 September 2000 Ludhiana, Punjab, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Left-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm Legbreak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Top order batter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023–present | Punjab | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023 –2024 | Mumbai Indians (squad no. 19) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025–present | Punjab Kings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:Cricinfo,1 March 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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]