Veteran Speedster Ashish Nehra says bowlers will have a key role to play in the coming season of the Indian Premier League, even though he feels the Twenty20 format is kindly to batsmen. The 38 -years-old, Ashish Nehra retired from competitive cricket last November and has been drafted, along with former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten, to be part of the coaching staff at Royal Challengers Bangalore. The former pace bowler said he is looking forward to his coaching stint and elaborated on the difficulties faced by bowlers to stand out from the crowd in the shortest format of the game.

Nehra has played every single season of the IPL since its inception in 2008, representing teams such as Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils."Be it Tests, ODIs or T20s, bowlers have to do well to win the match. You can't win a Test match by scoring a 1,000 runs. You will have to take 20 wickets to win it." Nehra said he would be more of a man manager in the RCB backroom set-up than a coach. The 11th season of the IPL gets underway on April 7, with Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings. RCB play their first match of the tournament against Kolkata Knight riders at the Eden Gardens on April 8.