An open letter to Zaheer Khan from an Indian Cricket fan

An open letter to Zaheer Khan from an Indian Cricket fan:

Dear Zaheer Khan,

Whenever the tag of Indian left arm pacer comes into the topic anywhere, the first name without a second thought that comes into every cricket fan’s mind is Zaheer Khan. To me, you have been the bowler with apt attitude and acute class. You’ve been the pillar of the Indian pace bowling attack for over a decade. Not only have you bowled well yourself but also guided other bowlers, especially the young fasters in the team to be the most productive with their bowling. We have been missing you from international cricket for quite sometime now and that is one of the primary reasons in writing this open letter to you to cherish the goose bumping memories that you had provided us for nearly 11-12 years in international cricket.

To start with, I must mention about your glorifying performances in the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000. You showed the trailer by striking some tormenting Yorkers on which the stumps kept rolling as if they were on a dance feat! It was a great call as India had found a reliable and genuine fast bowler to lead the pace bowling baton of the team. You performed decently well for India since then in the home series against Australia and England. In fact, your game changing wicket of Marcus Trescothik right in the first ODI of the match did make you a national hero instantly. In the Natwest 2002 final, it was you who had to complete the job for the team by taking those runs in the final over and obviously, just as we expect Zaheer Khan to, you accomplished it like a boss. India was blessed to find its first match winning left arm pacer in years.

A 24-year old pacer capable of dismissing Sanath Jayasuriya right in the first delivery of an ODI (as in the final of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy) and that too for a number of times is no fluke and is an instance of your possession of pragmatic class. In the 2003 World Cup, you and Javagal Srinath formed India’s primary pace pillar and undoubtedly, you did your part incredibly well. You kept on asking questions to the batsmen and it did pay off well for the team.

India proceeded to the World Cup final quite swiftly. The first over of the World Cup final was not that soothing and quite contrary to your ability. Having said that, you did balance it with commanding control by bowling exceptionally well in the World Cup final of 2011 as you bagged 2 crucial wickets in the final too. You were the front-wheel in India’s magical run in the 2011 World Cup where you managed to snatch 21 wickets at an average of 18, and were the leading wicket-taker in the tournament along with Shahid Afridi. Acute class might be the term to describe this brilliance.

The cricketing journey was not that swift for you as you were a fast bowler. And the term fast bowler is quite synonymous to injuries in the world of cricket. We did see a number of pacers had to cut short their cricketing careers and prepone their retirement. But you are simply, The Zak of Indian cricket. Like every other bowler you did suffer from injuries but unlike most of the bowlers, you bounced back even stronger from the injuries.

For instance, you were suffering from injuries in 2007 and you had to cut short your run up and modify your bowling action to aid your fitness. And in the very first series, with the modified stance and run up, you managed to bag 17 wickets in the England series and ended up being the Player of the Tournament. This is Zaheer Khan for us. A perfect blend of class, attitude and consistency!

Indeed, you have been the player who made bowling look easy and brought sensational victories for the team on a number of occasions from nowhere, literally! When it comes to attitude, one must mention the way you had a stare at the batsman, it was enough to dismantle the confidence of even the best of the batsmen at the crease. Of late, you were out of all forms of cricket for almost a year since mid of 2014 yet you came back with some glorifying and thunderous performances in the IPL 2015. Well, bowling is a free flowing activity for you.

Not only with the ball, you made other contributions to the team too. You instilled confidence among the young pacers and guided them to bowl the best of the deliveries constantly, helped them strategies against specific batsmen; imparted your experience into them, standing at mid-off while they were bowling. You led the bowling attack right from the front and supported the young pacers quite much selflessly. That is something bizarre to witness in modern day cricket. But as I mentioned, that is Zaheer Khan for us!

Indeed, as Indian cricket fans, we are lucky enough to have such a quality fast bowler, one of the masters of reverse swing, the master of 311 test wickets and 282 ODI wickets in our team. As an ambitious fan, I do expect to witness some more of the ‘Zak magic’ at the international level of cricket before you announce your retirement.

Yours sincerely,

An Indian Cricket Fan