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NEWS India-South Africa-Sri Lanka Tri Series 2006>Will there be a Zaheer Khan comeback? 17th July 2006 22.34 IST By Manish Kumar His consistent good performances for the English county side Worcestershire makes one wonder whether Zaheer Khan will make a comeback in the Indian team. Zaheer signed for Worcestershire County Cricket Club this year as their second overseas player as a replacement for Australian Nathan Bracken.
Last month Zaheer took the first nine wickets to fall in the first innings against Essex, ending with 9/138. Had wicket-keeper Steven Davies not dropped a catch offered by last man Darren Gough , Zaheer would have become the first bowler ever to take all ten for the county. It was not long ago that Zaheer was the spearhead of the Indian fast bowling after bowling his way into the limelight by yorking Stephen Rodger Waugh in the ICC Knockout Trophy in Kenya in September 2000. Zaheer quit his engineering studies to pursue a career in cricket and his emergence at that time was a revelation for Indian cricket, which was badly needing a genuine quick bowler. Zaheer's pace and willingness to angle the ball into the body has impressed even the best in the world. Zaheer, along with other seamers like Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra helped India to make it to the finals of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. But in perhaps the most important match of his life against the Aussies, Zaheer bowled the first over, conceding an appalling 16 runs including four wides off the first ball. Zaheer has taken over 100 ODI wickets at an average of 26 runs per wicket taking 4 wickets in a match 6 times (4 times against Zimbabwe ) including 32 wickets against Zimbabwe at an average of 17.46 runs per dismissal. Zaheer has not fared as well in Test matches, taking 100 wickets at an average of 37 runs per wicket. In recent times, he has tended to back up good spells with mediocre ones. Though a typical lower order batsman with a few lusty hoicks in his array, Zaheer holds the world record for the highest Test score by a number 11 when he scored 75 against Bangladesh in Dhaka, 2004. Zaheer’s partnership with Sachin Tendulkar , which produced 133 runs is an Indian-record for the tenth-wicket. But a hamstring injury saw Zaheer relegated to bit-part performer as Indian cricket scripted some of its finest moments away in Australia and Pakistan . Since then, Zaheer’s pace has dropped and his attitude questioned, as a new breed of pace bowlers pushed him aside to move to the front of the queue. In late 2005, Zaheer became increasingly sidelined after Greg Chappell became the new coach. The new crop of fast bowlers like S Sreesanth , Rudra Pratap Singh and Munaf Patel all made their international debuts and became regular members of the Indian team, forcing Zaheer out of the team. And then BCCI reduced Zaheer’s contract from a B-grade to a C-grade contract at the end of the year. Zaheer has a good built for a fast bowler, runs in hard and lets the ball go with a rip that would make any world-class bowler proud. All those years at the MRF pace academy and the workouts with some of the best fast bowlers of all time like Dennis Lillee has really helped mould Zaheer into a revelation of sorts. Injury problems have indeed spoilt the bright spots of Zaheer, but he has been working on his fitness. With comebacks galore, the career record isn’t the same, as you would expect of Zaheer. If he keeps himself fit and raring to go, his zeal shall bring him back in the Indian team. Zaheer has always been a person ready to take on a challenge and relished bowling in tough conditions and may well fight his way back into the Indian team, but the final call rests with the Indian selectors when they announce the team for the Tri-series in Sri Lanka. Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-South Africa-Sri Lanka Tri Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: Sri Lanka | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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