"Hope he is all right," said somebody.

"Hope it is not a fracture," said somebody else.

The concern was more than that of ordinary fans. For these were Ashish Nehra's very own, people he had grown up amidst, people who had seen him grow, people who were monitoring his every step.

Nehra's parents

Four days ago, when Nehra had still not written himself into the hearts of Indian cricket fans, when his inclusion in the match against England was uncertain after the sprained ankle, this reporter made his way to the paceman's house.

"Just down the road, on the left," said the fans. Everybody in the area knew where Ashish Nehra's family lived.

A lady in her late forties opens the door. She has been crying. Her eyes are wet, she wipes them with her towel. "He fell while bowling. It spoiled the whole thing," she says.

She is Sumitra Nehra, Ashish's mother.

Sumitra was just another teacher at a local school five years ago. But her son's selection to the Indian side in 1998 suddenly gave her mini-celebrity status. Her colleagues, her students would ask about Ashish and talk about his performances.

As of Wednesday night, after those dream figures of 10-2-23-6, Sumitra will not be hassled any more. Ashish has established himself on the biggest cricket stage of them all. The World Cup.

A national cricketer in the family -- one of 11 in a nation of a billion -- is a matter of immense pride, of course, but Sumitra misses her son when he is away on tour for long durations.

"It is great feeling to see him play and perform for India. But his absence for long periods of time is tough on us. Especially when he gets injured, we see it on television and cannot do anything," says she.

When Ashish sprained his ankle last Sunday, his father, tall, well-built Diwan Singh, a manager in a Delhi government corporation, was disturbed but composed.

'Our family hardly knows anything about cricket. Whatever he has achieved is due to his own zeal and his coach's help.'

"It is a part of the game," he said sanguinely. Against the backdrop of the champagne performance against England on Wednesday night, it makes perfect sense.

Although Ashish bowled as if to the manner born, for Diwan Singh, his son's journey from a local school ground to superstardom in Durban seems surreal.

At 15, Ashish took to cricket seriously. He was at an Air Force-run school in south Delhi. As he passed his matriculation, a sports-conscious local school, Salvan Public school, offered him a place. For the next few years, the lean lad was seen in practically every inter-school tournament. His bowling got him noticed and took him to bigger arenas.

Thereon, he moved to the nondescript Rajdhani college. Perhaps, Ashish knew his forte was swingers not sums and theories. He joined a reputed Delhi cricket club named Sonnet Club, which brought the best out of him. The club had some former national players as its members, Raman Lamba and Ajay Jadeja. And the coach, Tarik Sinha, saw Ashish as a potential India bowler.

"Our family hardly knows anything about cricket. Whatever he has achieved is due to his own zeal and his coach's help," says Diwan Singh.

Meet Nehra's elder brother Dinkar, 26, and it becomes even more obvious. He played cricket like every other kid in school and moved on to become a software professional. With a master's degree in computer applications under his belt, he is all set to bowl xml and html.

Dinkar did not think much of his sibling's obsession with cricket till Ashish made it to the Ranji Trophy. "When I saw him bowling in the domestic tournament, I was really impressed. He was bowling to Ajay Jadeja and after beating him a couple of times, bowled him," he says. "That was when it struck me that Ashish was going to make it some day."

So did his father who has maintained a file of the even the briefest news clip mentioning Nehra playing in some tournament or the other.

"I do it even today. I have every word written about him," says Diwan Singh.

Thursday morning's papers should have surely doubled his pile.

Ashish Nehra during the match against England

Diwan Singh follows his son's career with a passion. He is impressed with Ashish's zeal and urge to learn from senior players.

"Ashish holds Wasim Akram in very high esteem. He speaks to him regularly and seeks his advice on bowling. Wasim calls him at times when Ashish is home," says Nehra's father who dreams of seeing his son bowl like the Pakistani veteran.

Dinkar has similar hopes. He likes the way his brother swings the ball. "He has the aggression a bowler should have."

The Nehras hope India will the World Cup. But they share the average Indian's cynicism.

"I think they will make it to the Super Six. But winning the Cup is a matter of luck as well," Dinkar says.

And while Ashish Nehra basks in the glory and readies himself for an even sterner test on Saturday against Pakistan, his family lives its ordinary middle-class life.

"Having a cricketer-son has not changed our life," his father says.

You tend to go along with that view. Nehra features in no advertisements, and no flashy cars are parked in the porch outside his house.

Not yet.