Zaheer Khan

In a nutshell

Zaheer Khan was, without a doubt, one of the greatest assets of Indian cricket. A country starved of fast-bowling talent, could not have stumbled upon a greater gift at the turn of the century when Javagal Srinath, India's spearhead at the time, was into his thirties and in the twilight of his career. Zaheer ended up as one of the greatest new-ball bowlers of all time (particularly to left-handers), an expert at the art of reverse-swing (even with the old white ball), a potent bowler in the Test arena, and finally, a World Cup hero.

Nevertheless, shielded behind this facade of glory, was a story of struggle.

Humble Beginnings

Zaheer first pursued his cricketing dream after moving to Mumbai, staying back in a small hospital room his father's aunt worked in, using it as a "place to crash" after practice. Training with veteran coach Sudhir Naik, Zaheer's raw talent was in his pace, as he trained in the National Cricket Camp nets during practice hours and played tennis ball cricket in his leisure time afterward. Naik helped Zaheer find a job at the textile mill to support his practice, with an INR 5000 (˜US$100) paycheck. According to Naik, he often didn't get to eat breakfast before practice, which, oddly enough, didn't seem to affect his pace much.

Zaheer continued to work on his bowling, supporting his passion with a meager salary and buying his first cricket kit on his own. Even his bowling boots had to be arranged from the National Cricket Club's funds, as he continued to impress with his work ethic and commitment. Under Coach Naik, his skill was given direction and polished over the course of the next 3 years, and Zaheer made his entry into the Ranji fold. Taking giant strides in the domestic circuit, he impressed the selectors enough to be in the national reckoning within the next year: A huge achievement, given that Zaheer's coach had to convince his father not to thrust him into the engineering field - four years since, instead of a degree certificate and a grade transcript, a blue jersey with the India crest arrived at his doorstep.

With the Men in Blue

Zaheer Khan made his debut in the ICC Knockout Cup in 2000 and immediately hit the headlines when he yorked Steve Waugh, beating him for pace. An Indian express-pacer was a once-in-a-blue-moon discovery, and his ability to bowl fast yorkers at the death, move the ball off the deck and in the air, and his ability to maintain his pace, set him apart from the more metronomic fast bowlers that India was used to. In short, Zaheer was an exciting maverick, who brought hope to the Indian pace arsenal which was ageing around the turn of the century.

In partnership with Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath, Zaheer formed India's first potent express-pace attack for India in the 2003 World Cup, in which India had a dream-run into the finals. On the back of some good form on the tour of New Zealand, and during the league stages of the World Cup, Zaheer gelled well with the other two during the course of the tournament. However, nerves got the better of the young pacer in the final as he engaged in an ill-advised verbal duel with Matthew Hayden and ended up leaking 67 runs in 7 overs. This started a downward spiral for Zaheer as injuries and poor form forced him out of the team for a considerable period. There were concerns about his fitness and fragility on numerous occasions, given his uncanny knack of breaking down in the middle of a series, but he finally made it back to the team in 2004. He lacked the pace and accuracy of old, however, and conceded his spot to a host of new youngsters in the circuit including RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, and Sreesanth. Zaheer was in dire need of a redemption at the crossroads of a promising career.

Zaheer decided to take the county-path and regain his fitness. After signing with Worcestershire, he immedaitely regained his form of old and did extremely well with the Dukes, which seemed to work well with his style of bowling with its proud seam and shine retention. He picked up 10 wickets on debut for the county, becoming the first player in over a hundred years to achieve the feat. A fitter, more versatile Zaheer Khan emerged out of the cold English weather, and he was rewarded with a shot at redemption: a recall into Team India in 2006.

His second coming

Upon his comeback, Zaheer had cut down on pace, but his accuracy was unbelievable, particularly to left-handers. He had made it a habit of dismissing left-handed openers, particularly Graeme Smith, who continued to struggle against him until the end of his career. Zaheer's career-defining spell in Test cricket came at Nottingham in the wake of the infamous 'jelly beans' incident, as he turned the mathc on its head to deliver a famous Test series victory in England. Zaheer's mastery of reverse swing, along with Ishant Sharma's seam movement, caused the Australians a lot of trouble when they toured India in late 2008. He slowly matured into the leader of the young pace attack and assumed the role of a mentor to the younger pacers in the side such as Ishant Sharma, RP Singh and Sreesanth, often seen mentoring them in terms of field settings, bowling tactics, and the like.

His experience was most used in the 2011 World Cup when he was the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 21 wickets and more importantly provided crucial breakthroughs for India with the new ball, and more importantly, managed to invariably come back in the batting powerplay to pick up wickets with his reverse-swing and the newly-developed and well-disguised knuckle-ball. The World Cup turned out to be his last successful series for India. In the seasons that followed, Zaheer Khan succumbed to injuries and eventually lost his place in the side, starting off the first session of the first Test against England at Lord's - an injury which forced him out of the Test and cost India the match, and eventually the series. He made a comeback on the tour of Australia later that year but couldn't perform to the best of his potential. After a string of below-par performances, he was finally dropped from the Test squad for the final Test against England in late 2012 after India lost 2 Test matches on the trot to England and conceded the lead in the series.

His IPL career started with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008, then he moved to Mumbai Indians to spend two years before being signed once again by the Bangalore franchise in 2011. In the 2014 IPL auctions, he returned to the Mumbai Indians, for whom he played the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He was then signed by the Delhi Daredevils for the 2015 season and continues to mentor them to this day.

Twilight

Zaheer Khan was battling fitness issues from a long time. After being dropped from the BCCI's list of contracted players, Zaheer went on to train at a fitness academy in France along with Yuvraj Singh, who was recuperating after his battle with cancer. The 6-month stint did him wonders and he returned leaner and fitter. He announced himself once again and rose through Ranji cricket, picking up 13 wickets in three matches at an average of 19.84 in the 2013 season. One of the major changes he managed to bring about was the ability to bowl long spells and work batsmen out like the days of old. Impressed with the transformation, the selectors rewarded his efforts by naming him in the Test squad to South Africa in December 2013. He was back as the spearhead of the bowling attack, but he only had one decent outing in the two Tests. He also traveled to New Zealand, but his performance remained mediocre. He announced his retirement from the game in 2016 to make way for young legs such as Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami.

Zaheer's tendency to break down with injury remained a problem until the very end, and hampered the coherence of a potentially better career. Nevertheless, given his ability to bowl a wide variety of slower deliveries, conventional and reverse-swing, seam, and the ability to adjust his skills to all three brands of ball (Dukes, Kookaburra and SG), Zaheer was a landmark in adaptability. With an astute cricketing mind, and ability to match, he had the perfect blend of brawns and brain. Zaheer Khan was certainly one of the most complete pacers of his era - not something you expect to hear about an Indian fast bowler.

By Rishi Roy

As of 13th July 2018