Nehra at a city hotel on Tuesday

Calcutta: Indian paceman Ashish Nehra feels that after the arrival of Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji, the competition in the side has increased a lot, which will help Team India cope well with the hectic schedule ahead. According to him, it has reduced the pressure of senior bowlers like him and Zaheer Khan.

“Pathan and Balaji are doing really well and when there is four or five bowlers, everyone gets the amount of rest required to avoid injuries,” Nehra said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Nehra, who became the brand ambassador of Priya Biscuits, also expects to become much fitter in the Asia Cup.

The left-arm pacer opined that injuries were part of a pace bowler’s life anywhere in the world considering the packed calendar. “Moreover, fast bowling is a difficult job in Asian conditions,” he added.

Nehra also refused to give much importance to former Australian quick Bruce Reid’s observation about his ‘faulty’ action, which made him injury-prone.

Nehra ruled out any change in bowling action in a bid to remain fully fit for longer period. “At this stage it is not possible to bring about any major change in the bowling action. A little bit of change here and there one can do. But nothing major,” Nehra pointed out.

The left-armer also revealed that present Team India trainer Gregory King was doing a great job, much like his predecessor Adrian Le Roux. “They are both hard workers, but at the same time they have different styles of working,” he said.

Nehra said that the fast bowlers’ camp in Bangalore was quite useful and he had a good interaction with Kapil Dev there. “The main thing for a bowler is to maintain a good line and length and Kapilpaji told us the same thing,” he said.