The Hindu : Zaheer hopes to continue his fine act

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

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Sport - Cricket

Zaheer hopes to continue his fine act

By S. Dinakar

Speedsters Zaheer Khan (right) and Tinu Yohannan seem to be discussing the finer points of the game at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Monday. — Photo: N. Balaji

Wellington Dec. 16. Deep down, beneath all those layers, he must have been feeling the pinch. Twenty two Tests behind him, still no five-wicket haul.

A scenario similar to the premier batsman of a side, without a hundred. There will be doubts and doubters, questions and critics.

Cricket is a game of passion and skill rather than statistics and numbers, but then, there are times when figures do assume importance.

And as the spearhead of the attack, Zaheer Khan did have to set the record straight, get the monkey off his back. After all, he was the leader of the pace pack.

Returning from two differing injuries on the same knee, and without any serious match practice for more than 40 days, the Baroda paceman accomplished just that with a telling display of persistent seam bowling at the Basin Reserve — figures of five for 53 off 25 well-directed overs certainly don't lie.

In what was a dismal Indian performance at Wellington, left-arm paceman Zaheer's five wicket haul was one of the few crumbs of comfort for a vanquished side.

In the event, it was a wonderful moment for the 24-year-old Zaheer when he snared Daniel Vettori on the third day morning, his fifth victim of the innings — "It was good to reach the milestone, an occasion,'' he said here on Monday.

Was the `elusive fifth wicket' playing on his mind when he went into the first Test. "I've been telling all the guys that it's just a matter of bowling well. If you do that, you are going to achieve it somewhere down the line. I was beating the bat consistently. It was around the corner.''

The left-armer, who now has 67 Test scalps in 23 matches, awaits Hamilton with expectation and hope. "My confidence is high. I am looking forward to the next match. Hope to continue in the same fashion.''

In fact, before the bothersome right knee forced the selectors to rest him from the Kolkata Test and the ODI series against the West Indies, Zaheer had bowled with much fire and consistently in West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and in the first two Tests at home, where Carl Hooper's men had a demanding time taking him on.

With the experienced Javagal Srinath not around for the Test series here, the team does expect Zaheer to take on the mantle — "There is a great deal of responsibility on me, representing the country, and sort of spearheading the attack. But I am handling this. It's more a question of giving your best all the time and things will happen. I've been getting into my rhythm quite well. Senior guys and John Wright (coach) are all there to help me out.''

Zaheer had a narrow escape early on this tour when he was struck on the knee by a speeding ball, only a couple of inches away from the old injury, during the exhibition game against Max Blacks in Christchurch — "I was lucky. It was a close thing.''

Becoming match-fit before the first Test was always going to be a big ask — "The injury at Christchurch was a bit of a setback, and it was tough for me to play straightaway in the Test match after quite a gap. But the conditions were helpful, and by the grace of god, I did well.''

The MRF Pace Foundation product acknowledges the role of fitness trainer Adrian le Roux — "I have always been thankful to Adrian. He has been working on our fitness levels, guiding us in a proper manner. That has obviously helped us a lot.''

The New Zealand surfaces suit Zaheer fine for he is essentially someone who lands the ball on the seam more often that not — " My kind of bowling is basically seam. That way it is helping me a lot here. You got to hit the length, and you got to hit the deck hard, to get the movement off the wicket.''

Zaheer is right. Accuracy more than pace should be the key on pitches with juice in them — "In these conditions, pitching the ball in the right area is the most important thing. That's where I am concentrating on now.''

Over the last six months, Zaheer had been working on bringing the ball into the right hander from over the wicket on a consistent basis. "That's coming along well. Right now I am just concentrating on whatever I've got, whatever I have been bowling this season.''

About the challenges of bowling at the New Zealanders on their home turf, he says — "They are quite familiar with the conditions. I think they played well. The wicket of Fleming mattered most to me, because it was my first my Test wicket in New Zealand and sort of gave me the confidence.''

He has a word of appreciation for his pace partners, who were given the task of operating against the wind. "The conditions here were tough for those bowling from the other end, against the wind. Ashish (Nehra), Sanjay (Bangar) and Ajit (Agarkar) did well.''

Zaheer feels paceman Tinu Yohannan is developing nicely too — "He has been doing well at the domestic circuit and he's making his comeback. And he's bowling well at the nets, which is good.''

There are whispers that there could be a bowling coach in the Indian camp soon, with the names of Fanie de Villiers, Terry Aldemann, and Craig Matthews doing the rounds, but whoever arrives, if at all this happens, may not have to work too much on Zaheer though.

Easily, the pick of the Indian bowlers in the ICC Champions Trophy, striking both at the beginning and the end of the innings, Zaheer expects to play his part in the seven-match ODI series too. "One day cricket these days is a lot more demanding. The batsmen are innovative, and you got to come up with new deliveries all the time, and mix them up.''

There is the vital second Test ahead of the ODIs though. With his seam movement, length and bounce, Zaheer Khan will surely be humming in Hamilton.

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