It is no secret that the Indian bowling has never looked to threaten any batting line-up in the world at any point of time in their vivid history. Having said this, the Indian bowling ranks have consistently had one bowler who has distinctly stood out and performed brilliantly putting aside the fact that he can by no means depend on the rest of the bowling unit.
The latest on this long list of consistent and outstanding performers on this list is, I am sure you guessed it right; Zaheer Khan!
One is reminded of a rash 25 year old that ran in to bowl to a strong Australian batting line-up in a World Cup final. Zaheer Khan is now a very different bowler and person; he has indeed matured and come a very long way. The Zaheer of today has an excellent control, restraint and has the wonderful knack getting what he wants from the delivery he bowls.
The wide spectrum of frustrated Indian fans who have complained about the pathetic state of the Indian bowling contingent will be surprised to learn the fact that Zaheer Khan currently has the second leading wicket taker behind Shahid Afridi. This, amidst the pressure of having the most incompetent and non-cooperative bowling partners he has to share the ball with. One has to say, Zaheer has shouldered responsibility quite brilliantly.
This World Cup has seen Zaheer come to the rescue over and over again. The first over of most of his second spells with the old ball have been nothing short of phenomenal and have been largely responsible for turning the games in India’s favour.
There are loads of spectacular bowlers out there; Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Lasith Malinga, Kemar Roach, James Anderson, Stuart Broad to name a few; but they all have an undue advantage over Zaheer Khan, they have other competent bowlers to share the burden of responsibility; but what has Zaheer Khan got? – Munaf Patel, Aashish Nehra, Santhakumaran Sreesanth! The only other player who Zaheer can rely on to an extent (as long as the ball is new and shiny) is Praveen Kumar who unfortunately is not playing in this World Cup.
This Zaheer Khan is a person who shoulders responsibility knowing fully well only he can deliver and fish his team out of troubled waters, which made him utter these words; maybe they just slipped, or it came out of pure frustration of lack of support after the match against West Indies: “As a bowling unit, I am doing well”.
This post comes with me fully knowing there maybe a chance some people may be reading this after Zaheer Khan takes a pasting against Australia; but I trust the Sachin Tendulkar of the Indian bowling to not do that!
