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[Cover Point]

a more lethal Zaheer. Until he kicked him out for being lazy and cancerous he sucked. Once t he cancer was removed he became lethal!

http://content.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/398838.html

The new, lethal Zaheer Khan
How India's spearhead has, over the last three seasons, transformed into a far more potent bowler than he used to be

S Rajesh
April 10, 2009

Zaheer Khan took 13 wickets in the Test series against New Zealand, of which 12 were of top-order batsmen © Associated Press

Not long ago, Zaheer Khan was seen as someone who was symptomatic of the ills that plagued Indian cricket: he was accused of being unfit, not having enough hunger and drive, and not capable of rising to the big occasion.

Fast forward to the present, though, and plenty has changed. In the series against New Zealand, Zaheer was the go-to man for MS Dhoni - he bowled 115.3 overs in the three Tests, much more than Ishant Sharma (94.2) and Munaf Patel (84), the two other specialist seamers in the Indian team. His series average of 30.76 wasn't outstanding, but he bowled much better than the numbers suggest, beating the bat regularly and repeatedly asking questions of New Zealand's top order. Of the13 wickets he took in the series, 12 were of top-order batsmen. (Tim Southee, in the first innings of the third Test, was his only lower-order victim.)

Breaking up Zaheer's career into two halves, it's easy to see that he's become far more potent since he came back into the Indian team for the tour of South Africa in December 2006. His average since that comeback is 30.43, which, again, doesn't do justice to how he has bowled, but it's still significantly better than his average before that tour. His strike-rate has improved by 10 deliveries per wicket, and he has taken more five-fors in 23 Tests since than he had in 42 games during the first phase.

Zaheer's Test career in two parts
Period   Tests   Wickets   Average   Strike-rate   5WI/ 10WM
Before Nov 2006   42   121   36.34   65.7   3/ 0
Since Nov 2006   23   89   30.43   56.1   4/ 0
Career   65   210   33.84   61.7   7/ 0
The haul of 13 wickets in New Zealand also left Zaheer with a tally of 149 overseas wickets, which is third among all Indians, after Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble. Even more significantly, it turns out that Zaheer has the best away average among all Indian bowlers who have taken at least 75 wickets overseas. His average of 32.03 is better than that of Kapil (32.85) and Javagal Srinath (33.76), the two other Indian fast bowlers who've made a mark around the world in the last 30 years.

In that sense, Zaheer's numbers suggest he is a departure from the typical Indian fast bowler of the past, who was more at home bowling on the uneven pitches of India than on true surfaces abroad. Kapil and Srinath both did much better at home, though you'd think that conditions overseas would suit their bowling more; Kapil averaged 39.18 in England and 42.13 in New Zealand, while Srinath averaged 39.36 in England and 50.70 in Australia. Zaheer, on the other hand, has generally relished bowling outside India - he averages 29.27 in England and 22.95 New Zealand; in India, the average balloons to 38.14.

Best Indian bowlers overseas (Qual: at least 75 wickets)
Bowler   Tests   Wickets   Average   Strike-rate   5WI/ 10WM
Zaheer Khan   41   149   32.08   56.2   6/ 0
BS Chandrasekhar   26   100   32.66   67.7   8/ 1
Kapil Dev   66   215   32.85   72.2   12/ 0
Bishan Bedi   37   129   33.72   85.0   6/ 1
Javagal Srinath   35   128   33.76   70.8   5/ 0
Erapalli Prasanna   27   94   33.85   81.4   5/ 1
Anil Kumble   69   269   35.85   74.5   10/ 1
Harbhajan Singh   35   114   37.61   73.8   6/ 1
Ravi Shastri   42   78   42.85   106.1   1/ 0
Admittedly, Zaheer has played almost two thirds of his Tests away from India, but he has also made them count, taking 149 of his 210 wickets on away soil. His percentage of 70.95 is the highest among all bowlers who've taken at least 200 wickets. In fact he is well clear of second-placed Michael Holding, who has a percentage of 65.46. Daniel Vettori makes it into the top 10 as well, which is an indication of how unresponsive in New Zealand are for spinners.

Highest percentage of overseas wickets by bowlers with at least 200 wickets
Bowler   Tests   Wickets   Overseas Tests   Overseas wkts   Percentage
Zaheer Khan   65   210   42   149   70.95
Michael Holding   60   249   37   163   65.46
Andy Roberts   47   202   29   130   64.36
Saqlain Mushtaq   49   208   30   131   62.98
Wasim Akram   104   414   63   260   62.80
Lance Gibbs   79   309   47   183   59.22
Malcolm Marshall   81   376   50   219   58.24
Richie Benaud   63   248   34   144   58.06
Jason Gillespie   71   259   42   149   57.53
Daniel Vettori   92   293   47   166   56.66
The two tables below suggest that the biggest difference over the last two-and-a-half years has been the way he has bowled to right-handers. In the first six years of his career Zaheer was more effective against left-handers, averaging 33.32 against them at a strike-rate of less than 60; against the right-handers his average was 37. (These numbers exclude the matches he played before June 2001.)

More recently, though, Zaheer has added the indipper to the right-hander to his armoury, and that has made him far more potent against them, with the average coming down by nearly 10 runs.

One of the signs of a great bowler is the number of times he can get through the defences of batsmen and hit the stumps, and in that aspect Zaheer has significantly improved his stats against right-handers. In 42 Tests in his first phase, he had dismissed right-hand batsmen 72 times, of which only six were bowled, a percentage of 8.33. Since his comeback, 12 out of 50 right-hand dismissals have been bowled, a percentage of 24. It is an indicator of his ability to get the better of batsmen with changes of pace, and swing and seam, and they all point towards his becoming a more complete bowler.

Zaheer against right- and left-handers from June 2001 to Nov 2006
Versus   Wickets   Average   Strike-rate
Right-handers   67   37.00   67.46
Left-handers   46   33.32   59.19
Zaheer against right- and left-handers since Nov 2006
Versus   Wickets   Average   Strike-rate
Right-handers   50   27.94   51.34
Left-handers   39   33.46   61.74
His performances against the top batsmen during this period are a mixed bag. He has had plenty of success against Andrew Strauss, Kumar Sangakkara and Ian Bell, who has been dismissed by him five times in 34 balls, but his record isn't as good against Michael Hussey, Ashwell Prince, Simon Katich and Kevin Pietersen. Even among these batsmen, though, most will agree that the Zaheer Khan of today is a far more aggressive, penetrative and relentless fast bowler than the version of four years ago.

Zaheer against top-order batsmen since Nov 2006
Batsman   Balls   Runs   Dismissals   Average   Runs/ over
Matthew Hayden   181   145   4   36.25   4.80
Kevin Pietersen   207   117   2   58.50   3.39
Michael Hussey   208   109   1   109.00   3.14
Andrew Strauss   289   104   5   20.80   2.15
Simon Katich   166   94   1   94.00   3.39
Ross Taylor   108   75   0   -   4.16
Ashwell Prince   133   65   0   -   2.93
Kumar Sangakkara   86   53   3   17.67   3.69
Martin Guptill   77   61   3   20.33   4.75
Ian Bell   34   18   5   3.60   3.17
S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo

[Blwe_torch]

Good riddance..I say!

[keep-it-cool]

I agree. Dropping ZK at that point in his career was the best option. Anyone can figure out that he was a completely different bowler from the point he came back in against SA.

[Libran]

I agree. Dropping ZK at that point in his career was the best option. Anyone can figure out that he was a completely different bowler from the point he came back in against SA.

kic... there is no disagreement on that...anyone who got dropped..may have deserved it...what what has always been the moot point is the way it was done..
No one addresses / or likes to be addressed as cancers and epidemics.

On the performance pre and post the exclusion from the team...and this holds good for all (not restricted to Zak alone).. have been more to prove a point rather than a shock treatment as we would like to believe.. SG,Zak, VS came back with a vengeance...not as better players because they were always good. Otherwise it is not easy to play at that level.

The pre exclusion performance was a tapering down that is normal with all sports persons.. only that the patience of the Coach was a lot lesser than the norm. Look at Kirsten and RD for example...the long rope that RD has received is purely because of the captains' backing, the Coach's patience and a 'respect' for pedigree.

[keep-it-cool]

Correct.

But if the situation were to recur, I would have RD dealt with the same way ZK was dealt with. I.E. dropped and asked to work his way back in.

Secondly, even if one assumes that a very long rope (as RD got) is deserved in special cases, was ZK deserving of one? ZK's figures before his sacking were those of a mediocre bowler (SR of 66 and Avg of 36). I am not just talking about the last one year or so ..but his overall career record before he was sacked was nowhere in the same realm as that of an RD or VS or SRT or even SG. So, why should he get any rope at all?

[Cover Point]

ah .. i see the issue of the gangulians is that chappel treated the players as men and did not use "baby" words. He gave them a 'G' pe laat. It was those words as much as anything else that spurred these lazy bums into some action

[Blwe_torch]

ah .. i see the issue of the gangulians is that chappel treated the players as men and did not use "baby" words. He gave them a 'G' pe laat. It was those words as much as anything else that spurred these lazy bums into some action

....before long he got the royal boot himself!...........noble soul!

[Cover Point]

ah .. i see the issue of the gangulians is that chappel treated the players as men and did not use "baby" words. He gave them a 'G' pe laat. It was those words as much as anything else that spurred these lazy bums into some action

....before long he got the royal boot himself!...........noble soul!

what a mature and "MOD'esque response