Twitter Reactions: Cricketing universe wishes Zaheer Khan on his birthday

By Ankit Mishra

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Zaheer Khan. (© Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Undoubtedly the best Indian left-arm pacers Zaheer Khan ripened his skill quotient with growing years in international cricket and by the time he was at the twilight of his career was bowling like a dream. Right from the start Zak was a nightmare for the left-handed batsmen and especially the openers. We all saw the legendary Graeme Smith struggle and almost become his bunny.

There was more to his bowling than just being a conventional Indian swing bowler. He mastered the art of deception and reverse swing. In the latter half of his career Zaheer while bowling with the old ball would hide the ball in his other hand and tactfully reverse swing the ball of which the batsmen had no clue since they usually pick that the bowler is going for reverse with the way he is holding the ball and towards which end is the shiny side of the ball is pointing.

Having picked 311 and 282 wickets in Tests and One-Day International cricket Zak is also the most successful pacers for India. He had senior bowlers and players around when he was a rookie in the team and they shared their experience with young Zaheer. And once they were gone and he had raw, young, inexperienced fast bowlers around he gave them all he had.

Indian skipper, MS Dhoni had on multiple occasions said with Zak in the team he is like the bowling captain, he is always there guiding and helping the budding bowlers who haven’t yet had the real taste of international cricket.

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From the time he made his debut to the day he called off his career no fast bowler in India overshadowed him and that in itself is a special feat. Who can forget those game changing spells he bowled in the World Cup 2011. The tournament was played in India and mostly on wickets that favored the batsmen but he was the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament and almost every time Dhoni threw the ball towards him, he responded with a wicket.

Zaheer didn’t just find success on rich, juicy wickets overseas but was a master of stunning the batsmen with his bowling class at home, in the subcontinent and that is what qualifies his importance even further. Her turned 38 today and most of his former teammates took time out to wish Zak a good one ahead.

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