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Former Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan turned 45 today. Hailing from Shrirampur in Maharashtra, the left-arm pacer made his debut for India back in 2000. He picked up 3 wickets against Kenya in the ICC Champions Trophy. The next few years turned out to be excellent as he played an integral role in India’s win overseas.
On his birthday, let’s know some lesser-known facts about the speedster whose bowling skills helped India win several matches for more than a decade.
- A promising start to his Surrey Sting: In 2004, Zaheer Khan signed for Surrey as an unpaid cricketer where he didn’t waste any time making his presence felt.
- Starting his journey with Baroda in Ranji cricket: Many of his fans know Zaheer Khan played for Mumbai, but actually, he started playing for Baroda in his initial days.
- A match-winning knock vs Australia in Mumbai: After being 4-1 down in the ODI series against Australia and possibly on the brink of another loss, Zaheer Khan and Murali Karthik made the unthinkable by stitching a partnership of 50 runs for the 9th wicket and ensuring India’s victory.
- Fierce battles with left-handers: Zaheer Khan was a constant nemesis for left-hander players. It was more so in the case of Graeme Smith where he dismissed him 13 times across formats.
- Bagging Special Man of the Series Award: In a series against Africa XI, Zaheer Khan took nine wickets in three games as he picked up the Man of the Series award.
Now let’s have a look at his top 3 bowling spells in test cricket:
5/34 Vs Bangladesh in Dhaka, 2002
In a test match against Bangladesh, he completely decimated Bangladesh’s batting order with the figures of 5-34, leading India towards a comfortable win by an innings and 239 runs. Zaheer Khan was named man of the match.
4-59 & 5-75 against England in Nottingham, 2007
This bowling spell of Zaheer Khan is termed very high in his international career, where he took 4 wickets in England’s first innings. He repeated such efforts with the figures of 5-75 in his second spell which ensured India won the match in Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
7-87 against Bangladesh in Dhaka, 2010
Continuing with his purple patch in 2010, Zaheer Khan went all guns blazing by bowling a spell to remember against Bangladesh where he took 7/87 by destroying the batting order of Bangladesh.
Besides, Zaheer Khan’s most cherished moments came in the 2011 World Cup where he took 21 wickets and played a pivotal role in India’s 2nd World Cup win in 2011.
He provided India with crucial breakthroughs in crunch situations which helped India take control of match situations.
A few records Zaheer Khan has achieved through his bowling:
2nd Fastest to 250 ODI wickets
Zaheer Khan is India’s second-fastest to claim 250 wickets in One-day Internationals. He achieved this feat against South Africa in Cape Town, in 2011.
Second Highest Wicket taker for India among fast bowlers
The left-arm fast bowler finished his career as the 2nd highest wicket-taker for India with 597 wickets to his name. Kapil Dev has taken 687. The overall list is headed by Anil Kumble- 953 wickets, R Ashwin- 716 wickets and Harbhajan Singh- 707 wickets.
