Team India director Ravi Shastri disclosed the rationale behind recalling Ashish Nehra to the T20 side for the upcoming Australian tour.

Veterans Yuvraj and Nehra were the surprise picks in India’s T20 side.

With the ICC World Cup T20 to follow after the tour Down Under, the experience of the duo is being looked at to strengthen the team.

“Both Yuvraj and Nehra have been rewarded for hard work, for the hours put in by them,” Shastri said.

“Both are experienced and T20 is such a short format that there’s little time to think… Experience comes into play in a big way. Experience is a massive plus and I’d probably turn to Nehra if 15 balls remained and the opposition required just 20 runs. In such situations, experience comes to the fore. That makes a big difference,” he further added.

Of late, the Indians have not performed well in the T20 format. From losing against Zimbabwe to the series defeat against South Africa, winners of the inaugural T20 World Cup have gone off the boil in the shortest version of the game.

Nehra was impressive in the IPL earlier this year and a good show in Australia could earn him a place in the World Cup squad as well.