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Zaheer Khan

DomainK

By DomainK
in Cricket Talk

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Fontaine Newbie

Fontaine

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Another wonderful performance by Zaheer and Praveen. Both bowlers used the new ball extremely well with Praveen swinging the ball just a bit both ways and Zaheer also getting a hint of swing. In such a good batting track on shortish boundaries these guys kept the openers down to less than 4 and over in the first 10. They were unlucky not to pick up wickets with the batsmen constantly getting beat and missing the ball or getting edges. Zaheer though came back with a vengeance in his 2nd spell. As soon as the Kiwis took the batting powerplay in the 33rd over Dhoni immediately went to his senior bowler and asked Zaheer to do the job. In the batting powerplay, with strong winds, Zaheer bowled a 142kph thunderbolt of a yorker and got the vital wicket of McCullum. In those winds, coming back right in his first over, Zaheer had the accuracy and precision of a stealth bomber. Ishant was obviously rusty but the most important thing though was he still had his trademark delivery that bounces up like a rocket off the pitch. With that shoulder injury it was always important to see whether he could still get that alarming bounce and that's exactly what he did. His first wicket of Oram was a great example of a delivery that just nipped back a bit into the left hander but climbed like a monster and caught the edge coming up to his chest and Oram is a tall man. When Ishant gets that consistent high bounce, new batsmen at the crease look completely lost and he almost picked up a wicket right after (MgClashan) who's edge just fell short of Dhoni and he beat him again in the same over. Oh and just to be sure there were three dropped catches and various misfields off Zaheer/Ishant's bowling that would have killed off this game a lot sooner!!! I guess our fielders are still adjusting to those gusty winds. Last thing, Zaheer outpaced everyone by a mile. He was bowling consistently around 140-144 kph in his second spell and parts of his first.

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Ram Newbie

Ram

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The important thing to note here is, our bowlers are actually troubling the New Zealand batsman sometimes. Their bowlers look like they’re bowling to our batsman only for one purpose – To get smashed. These are ominous signs for the tests for the Kiwis. Unless the pitches are remarkably different, Indian batsman could be gorging on a run feast here.

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Ram Newbie

Ram

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The most pleasantly surprising thing about Zak’s bowling is his pace. He has consistently out –speed gunned Ishant and any other Kiwi bowlers. Another thing to note is, the team has employed this strategy of pacers-only during the Power plays. They’ve also realized that merely bowling seam is not going to stop the run-flow, as we saw in the 3rd match when Yuvraj took to Ryder. The emphasis has been on speed too, during Poweplays. They’ve figured out that the faster the ball is, the higher the probability of the batsman making a mistake. So, both Zak and Ishant have made it a point to crank up their bowling by a few kmph, in the power plays. And, it’s a tribute to Zak’s fitness that he has been able to deliver that extra oopf, so late in his spell. I am pretty sure, come the tests, he’ll revert back to his usual speeds of late 120s to early 130s, relying more on swing, both conventional and reverse.

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Shehezaada Newbie

Shehezaada

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yup, Zaheer clocked 143 and was easily in the 140 range yesterday. It's amazing he can just pick and choose his speed and still retain control over his line and length. Praveen started well but lost his line. But let's stick with him, give him the first 10 overs straight up while the ball is new. Until he starts either adding some pace, or some variations, let him have the new one and let him bowl out.

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Lord Grand Master

Lord

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The important thing to note here is, our bowlers are actually troubling the New Zealand batsman sometimes. Their bowlers look like they’re bowling to our batsman only for one purpose – To get smashed. These are ominous signs for the tests for the Kiwis. Unless the pitches are remarkably different, Indian batsman could be gorging on a run feast here.
Chris martin will be there in tests.i expect him to trouble the batsmen more,especially Sehwag
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fineleg Rookie

fineleg

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yup, Zaheer clocked 143 and was easily in the 140 range yesterday. It's amazing he can just pick and choose his speed and still retain control over his line and length. Praveen started well but lost his line. But let's stick with him, give him the first 10 overs straight up while the ball is new. Until he starts either adding some pace, or some variations, let him have the new one and let him bowl out.
Zaheer is the King of Indian bowling now. Praveen Kumar is very effective till his 6th over usually. After that he gets tired and a bit wayward. After the ball loses the shine, then he is not so effective and batsmen hit him.
Chris martin will be there in tests.i expect him to trouble the batsmen more' date=especially Sehwag
Yes, Tests will be more interesting and will renew the challenge for our batsmen with better bowler coming into the squad for NZ and maybe pitches which will assist bowling.
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fineleg Rookie

fineleg

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Chris martin will be there in tests.i expect him to trouble the batsmen more' date=especially Sehwag
BTW - is "bunny batting" the reason why Chris Martin is not picked for ODIs!? For a #11 - even if his batting is not good, I wonder why NZ misses out on a good bowler esp if they want to stem the runs against India in ODIs. These Ewen Thompsons are not gonna do much against India in Limited overs.
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graphic23 Newbie

graphic23

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Zak really deserved this. If there ever was a case of stats not reflecting performance, it was Zak over the past year. He's bowled so well but just hasn't got as many wickets as he should have. Fontaine will be very pleased.
India will be very pleased that its spearhead is inspirational in his performance and determination for the umpteenth time in recent history. And like you rightly pointed out, the stats don't do his bowling justice at all.
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Feed Newbie

Feed

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Kiwi batsman Taylor all praise for fiver Zaheer New Zealand were at the receiving end of fiver Zaheer Khan's devastating spell of seam bowling but their middle order batsman Ross Taylor has no qualms in praising the Indian, saying the strike bowler used his shortened run-up to lethal impact. More...

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Feed Newbie

Feed

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Zaheer only Indian pacer to capture five wickets thrice in NZ Zaheer Khan's devastating spell of 5-65 not only helped his side bowl out the Kiwis for a paltry 197 in their first essay, but also earned him a rare distinction of being the only Indian pacer to bag five wickets in an innings thrice in New Zealand. More...

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satishg Newbie

satishg

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Zaheer is the best bowler in world cricket right now IMO..i know there is Dale Steyn and MJ but Zaheer is using all his experience and is quite truly looking as a bowler who wud pick up a wicket every time the ball is thrown to him..the only sad part his for all his bowling exploits he still does not get the destroying bowling figures as Steyn or Johnson wud..i guess thats where these 2 guys are gaining an edge over Zaheer..but who cares as far as i can see this man is at his peak rite now and he is making the ball talk and winning matches for India..oh Zaheer..how much u have transformed :adore: :icflove: now if only Irfan can follow this man's footsteps :((

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