Zaheer Khan - The Conundrum..

[zubinpepsi]

Everyone says zaheer is the best bowler in the world or king of swing.. yada yada.. I agree he had a good series.. but im still confused why does he have an average of 30 in this series.... if you call him the best , shudnt he be below 25...?? I dont understand why zaheer cudnt break this 30 avg barrier... his overall is 34... :omg: even in the oz series at home, he averaged 40+ while the other three indian bowlers averaged less than 28 so wats with zaheer?? inspite of being the indian best bowler why doesnt he go beyond 30 let alone 25..???

[fineleg]

so wats with zaheer?? inspite of being the indian best bowler why doesnt he go beyond 30 let alone 25..???

you said it - 'best indian bowler' relatively in india - he is absolutely the best now. Worldwide, there is some catching up to do with best like Dale Steyn et al.

[bharat297]

The one thing that Zaheer needs to work on is ... when the opposition batsman are really counter attacking, like Hayden was in the 2nd innings of the 4th Test, he tends to let his line and length slip. Personally, I dont read too much into averages. Batsman around the world dont look at stats to see who the best bowler is ... its who they have the most trouble facing. Ishant Sharma's average isnt great but he certainly has caused the Aussie batsmen a great deal of trouble so far.

[King]

Averaging 30 in a series in which one of the test was played on a pitch similar to road/highway is no yardstick to measure his effectiveness. He has 13 wickets the most for the seamers from India and 3rd highest wicket taker for the series (Harbhajan 15 and Chris Martin 14). Zaheer's strike rate was the best among bowlers. Zaheer Khan against England at home took 8 wickets at an average of 21 with a strike rate of 54. Zaheer was the highest wicket taker in the test series alongside Harbhajan and Swann. In the series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka Zaheer Khan took 8 wickets at an average of 44 but he was the highest wicket taker when fast bowlers were concerned. Otherwise the series was dominated by Murali and Mendis. Obviously he's been the pick of the bowlers in the last couple of series or three and is rightly the spearhead.

[zubinpepsi]

I am not denying that hes become a very good bower and hes the main bowler for us .. but why isnt he able to bring his average down to 30.. and he doesnt hava a 6fer.. i know im yapping abt stats.. im jus annoyed that he doesnt have a good nos. to show off..

[the_mokc]

no one in the current crop of indian pacers ever look like running thru sides except sreesanth. look at his stats, best avverage and strike rate compared to rest

[Fontaine]

Zaheer Khan is one of the best Indian bowlers of all time. Outside India he has the best average, strike rate of any of the Indian top bowlers in the history of the game: http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;home_or_away=2;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=25;opposition=3;opposition=4;opposition=5;opposition=7;opposition=8;opposition=9;orderby=bowling_strike_rate;qualmin1=80;qualval1=wickets;team=6;template=results;type=bowling That's right, a better average, strike rate than any other Indian like Bedi, Srinath, Kapil, Kumble etc etc. Zaheer obviously has to improve his average but he's played in a lot of tests in the past two years like in Sri Lanka, India, etc where the conditions are absolutely built for batting and there's zero pace/bounce/swing.

[Fontaine]

no one in the current crop of indian pacers ever look like running thru sides except sreesanth. look at his stats' date=' best avverage and strike rate compared to rest[/quote'] Flukes Don't Count, Troll

[Fontaine]

Once again Zaheer has been chosen as one of the top bowlers by Wisden: http://content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/398701.html THE WISDEN TEST XI OF 2008 V. Sehwag (India) §G. C. Smith (South Africa) R. T. Ponting (Australia) S. R. Tendulkar (India) K. P. Pietersen (England) S. Chanderpaul (West Indies) *†M. S. Dhoni (India) Harbhajan Singh (India) M. G. Johnson (Australia) D. W. Steyn (South Africa) Zaheer Khan (India) Yes, that's right. No dancing donky Sreesanth, no Sidebottom.

[the_mokc]

Zaheer Khan is one of the best Indian bowlers of all time. Outside India he has the best average, strike rate of any of the Indian top bowlers in the history of the game: http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;home_or_away=2;opposition=1;opposition=2;opposition=25;opposition=3;opposition=4;opposition=5;opposition=7;opposition=8;opposition=9;orderby=bowling_strike_rate;qualmin1=80;qualval1=wickets;team=6;template=results;type=bowling That's right, a better average, strike rate than any other Indian like Bedi, Srinath, Kapil, Kumble etc etc. Zaheer obviously has to improve his average but he's played in a lot of tests in the past two years like in Sri Lanka, India, etc where the conditions are absolutely built for batting and there's zero pace/bounce/swing.

sreesanth averages 28.86 abroad with a striek rate of 52.5 thts better than any indian bowler before or since him. and dont give the excuse tht zaheer's average is mediocre cuz of asian pitches, ishant averages 27 on asian pitches shoaib avergaes 24 srinath averaged 26 vaas averages 27 zaheer's average is mediocre in asia cuz he is a mediocre bowler.

[the_mokc]

Once again Zaheer has been chosen as one of the top bowlers by Wisden: http://content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/398701.html THE WISDEN TEST XI OF 2008 V. Sehwag (India) §G. C. Smith (South Africa) R. T. Ponting (Australia) S. R. Tendulkar (India) K. P. Pietersen (England) S. Chanderpaul (West Indies) *†M. S. Dhoni (India) Harbhajan Singh (India) M. G. Johnson (Australia) D. W. Steyn (South Africa) Zaheer Khan (India) Yes, that's right. No dancing donky Sreesanth, no Sidebottom.

instead of making ignorant comments why dont u try to compare the number of matches sidebottom and sreesanth played. then compare the number of wickets sidebottom has and the averages and strike rates of sree and ryan and ull see the bigger picture. for a few seasons pathan was also wasim akram but form is temporary and class is permanent and after form abandoned pathan his true class came out, similarly zaheer is in form these days like he was in 2002/2003 season but when it comes to class he is very very mediocre and is exactly the bowler his stats reflect, nothing more than tht. he is only occupying space for more talented pacers, him and munaf. im fine with ishant he has class. what i dont understand is tht there is an identified match winner in sreesanth then why not play him. there can only be one reason RASCISM and tht he doesnt play into the BCCI's image despite the fact tht he is the most talented bowler we have. if not rascism then what???, why was a tried and tested failure with a negative mindset like munaf was played instead of balaji???

[zubinpepsi]

Sreesanth has played only 9 test matches...so by your logic he can also turn out mediocre right in the long run..?? so how can u b so sure of sreesanth?? 8-)

[Tapioca]

Averaging 30 in a series in which one of the test was played on a pitch similar to road/highway is no yardstick to measure his effectiveness.

It is only 27.10 even if you exclude the road.

[Fontaine]

sreesanth averages 28.86 abroad with a striek rate of 52.5 thts better than any indian bowler before or since him. and dont give the excuse tht zaheer's average is mediocre cuz of asian pitches, ishant averages 27 on asian pitches shoaib avergaes 24 srinath averaged 26 vaas averages 27 zaheer's average is mediocre in asia cuz he is a mediocre bowler.

The dancing donkey again? Even the brittle and injury prone Flintoff has played more tests that Sreesanth the past three years. Sreesanth had a great debut year, no doubt about it. But since 2007 he's averaging 48 with a strike rate of 92 with only 15 wickets in 7 test matches. And you talk about Zaheer being mediocre? In the same conditions, same series, Zaheer was dominating English batsmen with swing both ways while Sreesanth was in a distance behind him in class, control and swing.

[Fontaine]

instead of making ignorant comments why dont u try to compare the number of matches sidebottom and sreesanth played. then compare the number of wickets sidebottom has and the averages and strike rates of sree and ryan and ull see the bigger picture. for a few seasons pathan was also wasim akram but form is temporary and class is permanent and after form abandoned pathan his true class came out' date=' similarly zaheer is in form these days like he was in 2002/2003 season but when it comes to class he is very very mediocre and is exactly the bowler his stats reflect, nothing more than tht. he is only occupying space for more talented pacers, him and munaf. im fine with ishant he has class. what i dont understand is tht there is an identified match winner in sreesanth then why not play him. there can only be one reason RASCISM and tht he doesnt play into the BCCI's image despite the fact tht he is the most talented bowler we have. if not rascism then what???, why was a tried and tested failure with a negative mindset like munaf was played instead of balaji???[/quote'] Class is permanent huh? Sreesanth in his first 7 tests was great. In his last 7 tests he's averaged 48, with only 15 wickets at a strike rate of 92. Let's break that down shall we. That means Sreesanth has to bowl 15 overs and give away 48 runs per wicket. That's some class. That sucks. Sucks HARD. Not to mention this guy breaks down and gets injured more often than he's on dance shows. BCCI don't need to be racist to exclude Sreesanth. Sreesanth does that all by himself because he's either injured or bowling like crap. Now piss off you pakistani drunk troll.

[Tapioca]

there can only be one reason RASCISM and that he doesnt play into the BCCI's image despite the fact tht he is the most talented bowler we have.

ROTFL. Racism ? Against whom ? The whole Malayali race ? SachDan - kelkkunnundo ithokke ?

[graphic23]

Man, you guys are taking things too seriously wrt racism. He was talking rascism, where you discriminate not against the race but against the rascals.

[Sachinism]

I don't care what stats say, I've watched pretty much every over Zak has bowled in the last year and a bit and I know how good he is. The control on the ball, the ability to swing the ball, reverse swing it, amazing bouncers and just the ability to set a batsman up. Nowadays with wickets becoming more and more batsmen friendly it will be hard for him to bring the average under 30, but the job he does for India is fantastic and that's why he is rated so highly

[Deleted_User_1]

Everyone says zaheer is the best bowler in the world or king of swing.. yada yada.. I agree he had a good series.. but im still confused why does he have an average of 30 in this series.... if you call him the best , shudnt he be below 25...?? I dont understand why zaheer cudnt break this 30 avg barrier... his overall is 34... :omg: even in the oz series at home, he averaged 40+ while the other three indian bowlers averaged less than 28 so wats with zaheer?? inspite of being the indian best bowler why doesnt he go beyond 30 let alone 25..???

There is not a single bowler in the India team that has an average below 30. This team sucks..........................:D

[fineleg]

There is not a single bowler in the India team that has an average below 30. This team sucks..........................:D

PS: Just to clarify, I think ZK is India's best currently by a large large margin. And he is doing a great job. To be among world's best ever, he needs to continue the good work for another 2-3 years with great consistency.