Zaheer Khan

[haroon510]

i have been watching zaheer khan very closely since his return to test cricket.
he has been pretty impressive so far since his return.. what do u guys think about him? is he india's best fast bowler right now? what does future hold for him? can he continue the same performance or it would decline in next couple of years?

 

[archie mac]

I would think injuries will be the big factor, but if he remains fit he should have a good career

 

[Perm]

Definately India's best fast bowler, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth both have the potential to be better than him and show it in glimpses, but Zaheer is better at the moment.

 

[Salamuddin]

I never really rated Zaheer Khan..
He didn't look particularly accurate to me and as a test bowler you need a modicum of accuracy to succeed.
Add to that I think his fitness was suspect and certainly those in the know e.g. Bruce Reid weren't overly enamoured with his attitude.

To his credit, he has fought his way back into the team and I thought he bowled reasonably well in South Africa contributing to India's historic win at JoBurg.
Looks to have bowled well in Bangladesh as well and improved as the match progressed at Lords.
From what I saw of him on Fox, he looks to have improved his fitness a great deal and he has made changes to his action - he isn't jumping as high now as he used ato t release.

I think he has an important role over the next couple of years though.....India have quite a few young seamers coming up and I think they will look to Zaheer to lead the attack and mentor some of these newer guys.
I don't Zaheer will ever become world class but if he can stay fit and focussed he may end up lowering his average to 31-33...which would be quite decent by Indian standards.

 

[Manee]

Definately India's best fast bowler, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth both have the potential to be better than him and show it in glimpses, but Zaheer is better at the moment.

I agree. Zaheer seems to maximise his ability by pitching the ball on the right spot and hitting the pitch hard on the seam.

 

[Richard]

Seems really strange that he should apparently have turned the corner at the age of 29.

 

[Manee]

Seems really strange that he should apparently have turned the corner at the age of 29.

What do you mean by turn the corner?

 

[Richard]

Well, go from being a distinctly poor bowler to being a not-too-bad one.

 

[1-9-7-7]

Glad to see him performing well.
Gun bowler.

 

[asdfg]

I don't Zaheer will ever become world class but if he can stay fit and focussed he may end up lowering his average to 31-33...which would be quite decent by Indian standards.

His Test avg. is 34, which is definitely surprising. I thought it would be lower.

Then to compare him with the best of the best, I looked up Test averages for Australian bowlers. What was really odd is that none of them average less than 30. Most are in the 40s. I thought Australia had one of the best bowling attacks

So which team has the best bowlers currently? Probably Sri Lanka.

/offtopic I know./

 

[pasag]

His Test avg. is 34, which is definitely surprising. I thought it would be lower.

Then to compare him with the best of the best, I looked up Test averages for Australian bowlers. What was really odd is that none of them average less than 30. Most are in the 40s. I thought Australia had one of the best bowling attacks

So which team has the best bowlers currently? Probably Sri Lanka.

/offtopic I know./

Not sure which attack you're talking about, the only one we can really go on, the most recent one from the Tests earlier in the year had only one over 30, Lee at 31.6 then you have McGrath, Clark and Warne at 21.64, 17.80 and 25.41 respectivley. And if you want to speculate about the current attack which doesn't really exist yet, MacGill and Tait are the ones most likley to be added with MacGill averaging 27.20 and Tait only playing the two Tests so far.

 

[Richard]

MacGill's is substantially higher when Bangladesh aren't included.

 

[pasag]

Still scrapes in under 30, just.

 

[Richard]

Haha, so it does. Behind the times, am I.

 

[PhoenixFire]

It's a bit early to get over excited about Zaheer. He'll be fine in damp and cloudy English conditions, but how will he cope when he's bowling on a road at Perth or a dead track at Karachi? They will be the real test of how good he is.

 

[JaiMurugan]

It's a bit early to get over excited about Zaheer. He'll be fine in damp and cloudy English conditions, but how will he cope when he's bowling on a road at Perth or a dead track at Karachi? They will be the real test of how good he is.

True. He did get quite seamer friendly conditions in South Africa as well. The home series against Pakistan and the winter tour to Australia will give a better indicator

 

[Perm]

True. He did get quite seamer friendly conditions in South Africa as well. The home series against Pakistan and the winter tour to Australia will give a better indicator

He didn't bowl that well in South Africa, especially given the conditions. Averaged 30 which was exceptionally high, given the low scores during that series.

 

[Beleg]

PhoenixFire is wrong. The real test of his ability will be consistency.

 

[adharcric]

He didn't bowl that well in South Africa, especially given the conditions. Averaged 30 which was exceptionally high, given the low scores during that series.

He bowled quite well with the new ball. Lost it at times with the old one though. Consistency is the key, obviously.

 

[Xuhaib]

It's a bit early to get over excited about Zaheer. He'll be fine in damp and cloudy English conditions, but how will he cope when he's bowling on a road at Perth or a dead track at Karachi? They will be the real test of how good he is.

Have you seen recent tests at Karachi.