The on-going tussle for the Pataudi Trophy between India and England is fast turning out to be a Zaheer Khan show. Fifteen wickets from four innings at 18.33 is a clear indication of that fact. But such a performance from him was unthinkable a few months back.
A patch of bad form, below par fitness, attitude problems and the influx of talented youngsters pushed Zaheer into temporary wilderness. In the past, many players stood bewildered in front of similar challenging circumstances.
Zaheer, however, turned out to be a pleasant exception. He chose to script his own destiny, the hallmark of a champion performer. The Mumbaikar went to Worcestershire and polished his skills in the tough county circuit. The grind helped to improve his rhythm as a bowler — an important aspect of Zaheer's bowling — more importantly, his fitness and endurance levels.
He took 70 wickets for Worcestershire, and the performance earned him a ticket to South Africa late last year. However, his comeback coincided with a lean patch for Indian cricket and his gritty shows were buried under an avalanche of criticism about the team.
However, Zaheer was fresh and raring to go when the Bangladesh tour came around in May, and the left-arm paceman underlined his progress with some fiery spells in hot and humid conditions to lead the Indian charge.
The display had spurred his confidence to no end, and that sort of readied him for the role of pace spearhead — something that he was not entirely comfortable with in the earlier years — during the England sojourn.
Armed with the experience of bowling for Worcestershire, Zaheer has come up with some sensational spells in the current tour, after his initial fumbling on the first day at Lord's. Still, he managed to take six wickets in the first Test. His best, however, was yet to come.
Zaheer grabbed nine wickets in the second Test at Trent Bridge to place India on the brink of victory. His performance became even more remarkable as he bagged five of them in the second innings when the pitch eased out. Make no mistake; the controlled aggression he dished out in ample quantities was not the only feature of his bowling, it was as much about his tactical acumen and the control over line and length.
‘County cricket helped’
"I started to focus on those areas due to which I was bowling wayward in Bangladesh some 3-4 years back. After that I worked on it in the first-class matches and got control over it. Last year, playing county cricket here helped me a lot in terms of getting used to the conditions and the ball. Bowling so many overs and playing day in and day out helped me get control over line and length," he said.
He constantly troubled England skipper Michael Vaughan, angling the ball into him while bowling from around the wicket. When he bowled against Andrew Strauss, Zaheer focused on moving the ball away from the left-hander from over the wicket. It shows that the Mumbaikar has done his homework well.
"The conditions were helpful for me to go around the wicket. As you know taking wickets on this track was a bit difficult. So I started off with trying something different. It worked for me and I continued it. I am happy that things worked in this Test," Zaheer said.
‘Zak was the star’
Skipper Rahul Dravid has all the reasons to be happy as well. "Zak was the star. He showed what a leading bowler must do. We expect him to put up his hand in such conditions and he did just that. The other two boys are really young (Rudra Pratap Singh and S Sreesanth),” he said.
“Whenever we expected him to perform — first day when we won a good toss and needed to bowl well, Zaheer stood up there, when the game was delicately balanced on the fourth afternoon, he took the game by the scruff of the neck and delivered. That's what good fast bowlers do, that's what good match winners do. I think he was the match-winner for us in this game. He was well supported by RP Singh.”
Paul Collingwood, a hard to dislodge English batsman in any circumstances, too showered praise on the Indian southpaw. "Zaheer has that great knack of swinging the ball both ways with the same kind of action, changing the position of the seam a little bit and it's quite hard to pick up. He put us under a lot of pressure, puts the ball in the right areas, swings it both ways. It was tough for us," he said.
But it was hard work for Zaheer as well and he was quick to acknowledge the support of his fellow bowlers. "Our performance in the first innings was important because the conditions suited fast bowling and we had a job to do. After getting a first innings lead of 283, we knew it was important to continue the same performance. We knew the pitch would not be that easy to get wickets on and we were prepared for hard work. I am happy that all of us chipped in with a good performance," he said.
He also explained his approach on the field: "Well, when I go into the cricket field I am serious. I would like to play nice, hard and quality cricket in a Test match like we did. I don't see it any other way."
If Zaheer can reproduce this performance at the Oval, he will move a step closer to being one of India's finest ever.