Birthday special: Zaheer Khan – India’s most successful left-arm bowler
Former Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan, who graced the Indian national side for 14 good years, turns 41 today. He made his Test debut in the year 2000 against Bangladesh and donned the Indian jersey for the first time in ODIs in the same year against Kenya. He is at the second spot in the list of India’s most successful Test pacers after legendary Kapil Dev. Hailing from Maharashtra, Khan kicked off his domestic career playing for Baroda, Gujarat.
In the early years of his career, he was considered a great threat with his seam and pace bowling. Something that he owned like a king was his fast-inch yorkers that troubled the batsmen in front in too many ways. In intent to level up his bowling, he moved to England in 2006 and had a short stint playing for Worcestershire. Being a left-arm medium-pacer, he was known in the world for possessing too many qualities with the ball.
He possessed the ability to move the ball off the wicket in both ways and could reverse swing the old ball easily. He was largely appreciated for his heroics on flat subcontinent pitches and could handle the ball well in different formats of cricket. In 2011, he was conferred with India’s second highest sporting honour that is the Arjuna Award by the President of India.
Dominating the show in WC 2011
Zaheer was an integral member of the 2011 World Cup-winning team, where he led the pace attack and picked 21 wickets in just nine games. One match where he stole the show during WC 2011 was the group match against England. He dismissed three dangerous men from the English team, and they started stumbling midway. He picked the wicket of Andrew Strauss, who was looking too dangerous at that moment as he had smashed a brilliant century in a steep chase and was eventually named the player of the match. After Strauss, Khan knocked out Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood which led to the match ending in a tie.
In the 92 Test matches that Zaheer played, he picked 311 wickets. In ODI cricket, he picked 282 wickets in 200 matches. Zaheer Khan’s career was also known for recurring injuries, which is part and parcel of a pacer’s life. It also hindered his progress at the international level, and keeping in mind the same thing, Khan has set up ProSport Fitness and Services. It is a special rehabilitation and training centre that takes care of the well being of players. In the year 2020, he was honoured with Padma Shri by the Government of India.
While Khan continued in his journey in the international arena, he was roped in by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 to play the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. He plied his trade for Mumbai Indians too during his career and ended his IPL career with Delhi Daredevils in 2017. In 2008, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the year and will always be remembered for introducing knuckleball in WC 2011. He drew curtains on his glorious international career in 2015.
