Zaheer KhanIndia

Zaheer Khan is an Indian fast bowler with all the traits that made the Pakistani fast bowlers a phenomenon. He swings the new ball and reverses the old, he does well on flat subcontinent pitches and relishes the helpful ones away, and he controls all three balls well - SG, Duke and Kookaburra. He might not quite have the skills of Wasim Akram, who he has often been compared to, but mentally Zaheer has become as good as Akram. He knows how to get wickets, he has an intuitive sense of when to go for the kill, and once a batsman has shown him the slightest hint of a weakness, Zaheer preys on it ruthlessly. Unlike the Pakistan fast bowlers of the 2000s, though, he stays away from controversy and is pretty low-key off the field.

Injured Zaheer Khan ruled out of ODI series

India received a major blow as the left arm pacer Zaheer Khan has been ruled out of the three One Day International (ODI) series against South Africa due to muscle strain.

Zaheer had sustained strain in his quadriceps while bowling on the fourth day of the second test match against South Africa at Kolkata on Wednesday. Zaheer did not play on the fifth day.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary N. Srinivasan informed media that S Sreesanth will replace him in the Indian squad. The first ODI will be played at Jaipur on 21st February.

Zaheer injury big blow: Kirsten

Zaheer Khan

NEW DELHI: Zaheer Khan may be out of action due to shoulder injury for at least five months, but Indian coach Gary Kirsten insisted on Monday that he is not losing sleep over it.

For the upcoming series of matches, the former South African opening batsman is banking on Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar to make up for Zaheer’s absence.

“The kind of performance Zaheer has shown in last couple of years is truly remarkable. His absence is a huge blow but we have pacers in the team who can also do the job and I have high hopes on them,” Kirsten told TOI on Monday. Echoing Kirsten’s thoughts, chairman of the selection committee Krish Srikkanth said: “Zaheer has been our main bowler in recent times and his record speaks for itself. We are certainly going to miss him. We don’t have any other option if a bowler like him is injured. We have to accept this and move on.” Both Kirsten and Srikkanth however agreed that India has enough bench-strength to tackle this crisis.

“Bowlers like RP, Ishant, Nehra and Praveen are capable bowlers and can face any challenge. The Indian team is going to have a four-day camp from August 27 and we hope to sort out everything before the season starts in September,” Kirsten said. When asked if Ishant can carry the burden of expectations, more so in the absence of Zaheer, Kirsten said: “We expected a lot from Ishant and he did produce some extraordinary performances in the last season. He is extremely talented and he is going to get better with every series. I am confident he is going to play a crucial role again.” Kirsten, who was in the Capital with mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton to monitor the fitness regimen of eight Indian cricketers, went about his job in a professional manner.

Both he and Upton kept updating their notebooks with the latest readings of players’ bip test. Expectedly, these fitness reports will be tabled next week when the selectors meet to pick the teams for the Sri Lankan tri-series and Champions Trophy. Probably, this is the first time that the entire team will undergo fitness tests before a conditioning camp, that too at the start of the cricket season. Earlier, such fitness tests were conducted at the conditioning camp. The second round of tests will be conducted on the remaining cricketers in Mumbai on Tuesday.

“We have to keep a track record of the fitness standards of the team. All the players are in good shape and we hope to start the season with a bang,” Kirsten said. The eight cricketers who attended the fitness test: Indian skipper MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Parveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina.

IPL Cricket

Zaheer Khan will spearhead the bowling for the Mumbai IPL cricket team

Zaheer Khan has been recently declared as the “Best bowler in the world” by Kevin Pieterson. While that accolade may be debatable, Zaheer is without doubt one of the most potent bowlers in the cricket world today

Zaheer Khan has expressed his eagerness to work with Shaun Pollock, the mentor of the Mumbai Indians cricket team

Reportedly, Zaheer Khan had some problems with the Bangalore Royal Challengers cricket team management which has caused him to leave the Bangalore Royal Challengers and join his home team- the Mumbai IPL cricket team

Zaheer however seems really eager to work with Shaun Pollock, who is ostensibly the mentor of the Mumbai Indians cricket team. But, the real of Shaun Pollock is to be the unstated bowling coach of the Mumbai IPL cricket team

Zaheer Khan obviously sees an incredible opportunity in working with Shaun Pollock, the master of seam and swing bowling, especially on South Africa cricket pitches. Shaun Pollock will be a great influence on Zaheer Khan, who will look forward to making his bowling even more potent

Zaheer Khan likes to set his own field, without interference and he can be assured of Sachin Tendulkar’s support

Zaheer Khan has a personality similar to that of the successful fast bowlers of the bygone era. Incredibly confident, Zaheer prefers to set his own field and brooks no interference from the coach or the captain
Dhoni’s success in bringing out the best in Zaheer Khan is by letting Zaheer Khan control all the variable elements including the field placing and the end he prefers to operate from
Sachin, the captain of the Mumbai Indians T20 IPL cricket team, can be expected to follow the same principle and give Zaheer his space, so that Zaheer can perform to his full potential

Zaheer Khan will have a great influence on the youngsters of the Mumbai IPL cricket team such as Dhaval Kulkarni

Dhaval Kulkarni and the other youngsters of the Mumbai Indians IPL cricket team will benefit immensely from bowling in the company of Zaheer Khan
Dhaval Kulkarni ,probably the most promising bowler of the Mumbai IPL cricket team, has the enviable record of picking up the maximum number of wickets for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. But Dhaval Kulkarni needs the wisdom of experienced bowlers such as Zaheer Khan in order to reach his potential and compete in the international arena

Zaheer Khan is in peak form and this will be an added bonus for the Mumbai Indians IPL cricket team

Zaheer Khan demonstrated his incredible form in the recent India Vs New Zealand cricket series. With just 11 days separating the IPL and the India Vs New Zealand cricket series, Zaheer is perfectly positioned to play a key role for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL2 T20 cricket season

Written by mumbaitapori · Filed Under Bangalore Royal Challengers IPL Cricket team, IPL Cricket Teams, Mumbai Indian Tapori Says, Mumbai Indians IPL Cricket Team
Tagged: bangalore royal challengers, dhaval kulkarni, ipl.sachin, mumbai indians, shaun pollock, tendulkar, zaheer khan

Zaheer Khan & Yuvraj Singh PEPSI Britday

Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh helping birthday boy Siddharth in cutting the cake at the Pepsi programme. - Photo: K.R. Deepak

Siddharth got his cake and ate it too! What more can a die-hard cricket fan ask for? He had star cricketers, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan, singing the birthday song and helping him in cutting the cake.

Eleven-year old Siddharth will cherish this special birthday for the rest of his life. Of course he would also remain grateful to Pepsi Foods, the company that provided the platform for interaction with the two cricket stars at Taj Residency.

The 25 winners of the `Pepsi pyaas hai badi' contest organised as part of the on-going One Day International cricket series, and the guests and invitees waited with bated breath to catch a glimpse of the stars and share a few moments with them.

The event managers, Razzmatazz, announced that the players were expected to arrive anytime between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The winners and invitees reached the hotel well before 5 p.m. After thorough frisking they were allowed into the hotel.

To keep the guests engaged, the organisers screened "Oye bubbly - yeh pyaas hai badi" commercials. The two commercials - one starring Amitabh Bacchan and the other Shahrukh Khan - held the attention of the gathering for a couple of times. However, when the same were repeated again and again, the gathering was visibly bored to the core.

The Razzmatazz chief, Meenakshi Anantram, hit upon a novel plan to pep up the spirit of the gathering. She invited the boys and girls to dance on stage after watching the `bubbly' advertisement. When none volunteered to shake a leg, she held out a promise of exciting prizes for the best dancer and soon there were two boys and three little girls on stage.

The youth became restless as it was half-past-six and there was no sign of their cricketing icons approaching. Sensing the mood of the youth, Meenakshi, announced that Team India was busy in a meeting at a different venue in the same hotel, discussing the strategy for the next day's play. "We all want India to win against Pakistan and we wouldn't mind if the discussions go on for a little longer," she said and there was silence among the gathering.

The die-hard fans must have thought in their heart of hearts that they could even spend the whole night awaiting their arrival, if only that meant the victory of team India in Vizag.

Pepsi had tied up with Yahoo and organised an SMS contest. Over 1,000 persons had participated of whom 25 were chosen the lucky winners in three different categories.

The stars finally arrived at 7.20 p.m. and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. The winners were given miniature bats and the two stars signed on each of the bats. The two batsmen also obliged the guests with autographs and even posed for photographs with some of their fans.

The names of the winners are: Niranjan, Satish, K. Aditya, Shahjahan, Richard, Basheer, Ramesh, S. Karim, G.V. Chaitanya, K.V.V. Satyanarayana, V.V. Srikant, U. Srikant, Raju, J. Gopalakrishna, A. Srinivas, Satish, Ramesh, Joseph, Md. Khwaja, Vidhur Kedia, P. Uttam, D. Avinash, Srikar, Akhil and P. Midhun Kumar.

The Director (Operations) of Pepsi Foods, Sourav Gupta, was present.

As one walked out of the hotel premises, scores of men, women and children were seen craning their necks, trying to catch a glimpse of their cricket icons, as they watch out of their glass windows. A woman was seen standing on the road divider opposite the hotel with binoculars trying to figure out two persons who were standing near the window of their fifth floor room.

The winners and invitees of the `Pepsi pyaas hai badi' programme were indeed lucky to share a few moments with the two cricket stars.

Zaheer to leave for England with Team India: BCCI

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, is set to leave with the India's Twenty20 squad for the World Cup in England, BCCI sources said on Thursday.

"The team is set to leave tomorrow. If there was anything about it (concerns over Zaheer's fitness) we would have let it be known to the media," informed BCCI sources.

Doubts had cropped up about Zaheer's availability for the World Championship when he stayed back in South Africa after the conclusion of IPL for a treatment to his injury.

Zaheer, who played for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, suffered the injury on his bowling shoulder while diving to stop a drive off Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Robin Uthappa in Johannesburg.

He underwent a scan that indicated some inflammation and the team management said the injury was not as serious as was thought before the scan. But he did not take part in the remaining matches of Mumbai Indians.

The left-arm pacer, who was not a part of the triumphant squad that clinched the title in the inaugural edition two years ago in South Africa, has emerged as chief wrecker for India in the recent series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer back for County?

Worcestershire say they would love to have Zaheer Khan back at New Road, but are a long way from getting him to return...

Khan bowled brilliantly for the County in 2006, taking over 100 wickets in all forms of the game, and was one of the main reasons Worcestershire earned promotion in two competitions, the County Championship, and the Pro-40.
His form at New Road last summer earned him a test recall, and he's been turning in match winning performances for India, as they beat England in this country for the first time in 21 years.
With only one overseas player per county next summer, its likely Worcestershire, along with many other Counties, will be looking for quality bowlers, and Kahn would fit the bill.

"To see him bowl on some 'juicy' early season wickets in the country would be good."

Steve Rhodes

Doug Bollinger

Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes told BBC Hereford and Worcester that Khan would be a target for them this winter:

"We have good contacts with Zaheer Khan, and we know he is a quality bowler, who also fits well into our dressing room, which is very important to us.
"It will depend on his availability, as India are due to tour Zimbabwe at the start of the English season next year, but it's not certain at the moment that the tour will go ahead, we will have to wait and see.
"He may have other international commitments later in the year as well, but to get him here for the first half of the season would be great.
"To see him bowl on some 'juicy' early season wickets in the county would be good."

Rhodes admitted that Khan had been a hard act to follow, but was full of praise for the effort put in by his replacement Doug Bollinger:

"Nobody was more disappointed that Doug at the way he performed, but you can't fault him for effort, and in the last couple of games he bowled well.
"He will be much better of for the experience he had in this country, and the fact that he's been called back to play for Australia says a lot about how they rate him as a bowler."

The Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan is ready to get back in the middle after missing the second Test. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

MELBOURNE DEC. 22. The Indians are riding on the strength of their fast bowling with Zaheer Khan in particular coming of age and beginning to change the course of the match with his aggressive attitude. By being aggressive, they don't indulge in sledging and abusing and join a family of fast bowlers who believe wickets can be had by just glaring at batsmen.

Zaheer is different. He need not throw tantrums to win a decision. The most important thing that he has understood on this tour is to remain positive, thanks to the inputs from bowling coach Bruce Reid. "I have gained a lot from Bruce's guidance. He's made a big impact on all of us,'' Zaheer admitted candidly.

When Javagal Srinath retired and Venkatesh Prasad fell out of favour despite some stirring performances, there was concern at the declining standards of fast bowlers in the country. Bowlers like Debasis Mohanty, Harvinder Singh, Tinu Yohanan, Iqbal Siddiqui, T. Kumaran, L.R. Shukla could not make it big. Zaheer leads a list of fast bowlers, which includes Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, L. Balaji and Irfan Pathan, who have shown the mettle to last on the big stage.

He is looking forward to the big day when he spearheads the Indian bowling challenge at Melbourne. The third Test beckons him to give his best when his team needs him most. He has dreamt of bowling at the imposing Melbourne Cricket Ground and the stage is now set for him.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly was confident Zaheer would be available for selection in the final eleven. The reports from the physiotherapist and trainer have been encouraging and the team management is pleased.

Zaheer, meanwhile, has been working hard on his fitness. "I feel much better and confident. I've worked hard on my return and am looking forward to bowling at the MCG,'' he said.

This is not Zaheer's first visit to Australia. He was here to attend a training course sponsored by MRF in 1999. "I came here when MRF sent me to Adelaide. I was supposed to play two matches but it didn't work out. Then I went as part of the academy team to Christchurch. It was a very different experience. But this time I have actually bowled on Australian tracks and am better prepared,'' he recalled.

"I do remember that I had not played any first-class cricket then. It was very early stage of my career. I had represented the Australian Academy in New Zealand. Their outlook, preparation was so different. They always talked of positive things. It was very different. That confidence helped me when I went to Baroda. I learnt to be positive and bowled with lot of confidence. It changed my attitude towards the game.''

His aggression on the field, which he makes no attempt to hide, sets him apart. "It (aggression) helps if you are a fast bowler. It's very important. At certain stages, when a partnership builds, you can't get bogged down, can't go through the motions. Aggression helps you keep coming at the batsmen. And I do it without crossing the limits.''

Does it become necessary for Zaheer to be aggressive? "For a bowler like me I think it is important to be aggressive. I look for wickets and not just contain. When the captain tosses the ball to me he expects a wicket and by being aggressive I stay in focus.''

In a short time, Zaheer has learnt to shoulder responsibility with support coming from all quarters. He described it aptly, "we're one unit. We've been clicking like one unit and that has really made an impact. Of course, I may appear to be shouldering more responsibility but that does not alter my style of bowling. It was the same when Srinath was around. I always looked to take wickets, to have a go at the batsmen. I know it helps the team when I strike my rhythm early. I'm enjoying this responsibility. The added responsibility is because of Srinath's absence. But then every one else is doing his job.''

How much has Zaheer enjoyed bowling overseas? "A lot. Outside India, the pitches are more conducive. In South Africa, New Zealand, England, Australia the wind is always blowing and that helps the bowler a lot. Then there is good bounce. Even if the ball is not doing much off the pitch and in the air, the carry is there. You learn with experience. You learn these things with experienced bowlers. I do talk to people and share my experience with my colleagues.''

A county contract beckons him next season. He is game because it will help him become a complete fast bowler. "My family has always been very supportive. They're happy when India wins and concerned when we don't perform. We enjoy each other's company. I'm a normal person and nothing has changed for me and my family because of fame and money,'' said Zaheer.

He holds the key to India achieving its goal of a first ever Test series win in Australia. Zaheer is geared to perform the role he has been assigned, unless of course, he fails the fitness test on the day of reckoning.

Zaheer Khan Shines for India in Second Test

We often hear that the main strength of Indian cricket team is its batting. Yes, it is true but sometimes exceptions happen and Zaheer Khan could make this exception in the second test against

England. He bowled superbly both in the first innings and in the second innings. In the second innings, English batsmen offered a stiff resistance but could not get the upperhand over Zaheer Khan.

Zaheer Khan was the man who mattered at Trent Bridge.
Nine for Zaheer have set up the game for India — only Chetan Sharma has taken 10 wickets in a game for India in

England. Twenty-one years after Sharma’s feat, India have the upper hand in a Test series in

England for the first time. They are 63 runs away from taking the lead in this three-Test series.
Anil Kumble’s belated resurgence, three wickets off the tail, denied Zaheer a tenner, which would have been a perfect award for work done very well.
If

India wins then Zaheer Khan will surely become the man of the match for his bowling. I just wish that Zaheer Khan can continue his good form in the third test too. He is becoming a matured bowler and this is good for team

India.

Zaheer Khan India

Full_Name	Zaheer_Khan
Born	October_7,1978,Shrirampur,Maharashtra
Current_Age	32_years_83_days
Major_Teams	India,AsiaXI,AsiaXI,Baroda,Mumbai, Mumbai Indians,Royal Challengers Bangalore,Surrey,Worcestershire
Batting_Style	Right-hand_bat
Bowling_Style	Left-arm_fast-medium

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	76	100	22	995	75	12.75	1985	50.12	3	112	19	18
ODIs	177	91	35	719	34*	12.83	940	76.48	0	60	24	37
T20Is	12	4	2	13	9	6.50	10	130.00	0	0	1	2
First-class	140	182	37	2028	75	13.98			4			42
List A	230	119	43	974	42	12.81			0			51
Twenty20	60	31	18	136	26	10.46	136	100.00	0	13	2	14

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	76	139	15277	8412	261	7/87	10/149	32.22	3.30	58.5	13	10	1
ODIs	177	174	8850	7254	243	5/42	5/42	29.85	4.91	36.4	7	1	0
T20Is	12	12	250	327	13	4/19	4/19	25.15	7.84	19.2	1	0	0
First-class	140		28759	15934	580	9/138		27.47	3.32	49.5		32	8
List A	230		11498	9357	318	5/42	5/42	29.42	4.88	36.1	10	1	0
Twenty20	60	60	1314	1693	61	4/19	4/19	27.75	7.73	21.5	1	0	0