Sometime this November (or possibly December), its very likely that Zaheer Khan will pick up his ninth wicket of the series against England and so become only the fourth Indian bowler (and only the second fast bowler) to join the 300+ Test match wicket club. Given that this club is now 24 strong, it may not seem like a big achievement in an all-time context but from an Indian perspective, its massive and MS Dhoni is not over-reaching at all when he says that Zaheer deserves as much acclaim as Tendulkar for his contributions to Indian cricket.
As always, sample the stats first. Amongst the 25 Indian bowlers who have taken 75+ Test match wickets (100 would have been too high a threshold for India), Zaheer has the best strike rate (though admittedly only the 12th best average). And if you then look at away matches only (excl Zim and Ban) and reduce the cut-off to 45 wickets, he continues to be top of the pile in terms of strike rates and behind only Subhash Gupte on bowling average. And finally, he's the highest wicket taker for India in away victories (which is the gold standard for any team). Add to that the fact that he's only 18 wickets away from becoming the twelfth bowler to take 300+ wickets in ODIs. And if he does get past 300 wickets in both formats, he will be only the ninth bowler in the history of the game to do so.
But apart from the stats, there's also the back story of how he's had to deal with so many injuries and comebacks over time. He's gone from being a tearaway (who memorably to remodelling his action and becoming a cannier bowler in the mould of McGrath, Pollock, and Vaas. And while he may never be as great a bowler as the first two, when he's fit and firing, India look a different team and Dhoni an altogether more attacking captain. Dravid and Laxman will be missed greatly, as will Tendulkar and Sehwag when they retire, but in a land of batsmen and spin bowlers, no one will be missed more in the short term than the genial quick from Shrirampur who's become arguably India's most complete fast bowler ever.
As always, sample the stats first. Amongst the 25 Indian bowlers who have taken 75+ Test match wickets (100 would have been too high a threshold for India), Zaheer has the best strike rate (though admittedly only the 12th best average). And if you then look at away matches only (excl Zim and Ban) and reduce the cut-off to 45 wickets, he continues to be top of the pile in terms of strike rates and behind only Subhash Gupte on bowling average. And finally, he's the highest wicket taker for India in away victories (which is the gold standard for any team). Add to that the fact that he's only 18 wickets away from becoming the twelfth bowler to take 300+ wickets in ODIs. And if he does get past 300 wickets in both formats, he will be only the ninth bowler in the history of the game to do so.
But apart from the stats, there's also the back story of how he's had to deal with so many injuries and comebacks over time. He's gone from being a tearaway (who memorably to remodelling his action and becoming a cannier bowler in the mould of McGrath, Pollock, and Vaas. And while he may never be as great a bowler as the first two, when he's fit and firing, India look a different team and Dhoni an altogether more attacking captain. Dravid and Laxman will be missed greatly, as will Tendulkar and Sehwag when they retire, but in a land of batsmen and spin bowlers, no one will be missed more in the short term than the genial quick from Shrirampur who's become arguably India's most complete fast bowler ever.
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