Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan is an outstanding Indian cricketer and has been a significant member of the Indian national team since 2000. He is a potential weapon in Team India's formidable pace attack. Zaheer Khan was born on October 7, 1978 in Srirampur, Maharashtra, India. He left his engineering studies to pursue a career in cricket and has come a long way since then, working his way up into the cricketing world. The major teams that Zaheer Khan represents are India, ACC Asian XI, Baroda, Surrey and Worcestershire.

Zaheer Khan is a potent left arm pace bowler who has spearheaded the Indian pace attack on many occasions. Zaheer has the ability to swing the ball both ways, and is also an efficient lower-order batsman. Zaheer's brilliant cricketing career includes his intake into the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, and his debut in Test cricket, playing against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2000. Despite an injury period in between tests, Zaheer has played some fabulous innings in his 45 Tests, scoring 578 runs and taking 134 wickets, with a Test career best of 5/29.

Zaheer's One Day International debut was against Kenya at Nairobi in the 2000 ICC Knockout Trophy. Since then, he has played 120 ODIs scoring 506 runs and taking 177 wickets, with an ODI career best of 5/42. His contributions in the 2003 Cricket World Cup ensured India's run into the finals while he finished as the event's 4th highest wicket taker, taking 18 wickets from 11 matches at an average of 20 runs per wicket.

Despite his brilliant performances, Zaheer has to sit out in 2004 India's tour to Pakistan due to his injury. His drooling performance made it difficult to retain his position in the team, he was eventually dropped, only to prove his worth through Indian domestic cricket and overseas County Cricket. He was again selected into the Test and ODI side in late 2006, after which his consistent performances booked him a seat for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Amongst the numerous records held by Zaheer Khan, most noted are:

• He holds the record for the highest Test score by a No. 11, scoring 75 against Bangladesh in Dhaka, 2004.
• He is the 2003 World Cup's 4th highest wicket taker.
• He holds the Indian-record for the tenth-wicket partnership along with Sachin Tendulkar, which produced 133 runs.
• In county cricket, he became the first Worcestershire player to take 10 wickets in a match on debut for over 100 years against Somerset.