Theory on Zaheer Khan

[bharat297]

This guy is one of my favourite bowlers in the test team and I still feel he 'could' be a very good ODI bowler. However, no doubt he lost us the game yesterday ... that 17 run over was the nail in our coffin. His form has been a bit inconsistent lately. He bowled a few good spells against Australia, but also bowled some rubbish spells, so its fair to say he is out of form. However, having said that ...and this may sound strange and even stupid, my theory is that if a player single handedly loses you a match ... you shouldnt drop him the very next game (especially if the games are close together). You should always give him 1 more chance to redeem himself. Yes there is the possibility of another poor performance. If that is the case then yes drop him. But when a player single-handedly loses you the match like Zak did yesterday, no one would be more disappointed and eager to redeem himself than Zaheer. We saw in England that Zaheer can perform very well when he gets a bit angry. Give him 1 more chance and we could see a very good comeback spell. It has happened with other players before. What do you guys reckon? Give Zaheer 1 more game to redeem himself?

[Dravid]

duh he will get chances... who else do we have to replace him with

[bharat297]

Praveen Kumar? I think its time to try some of these young domestic bowlers

[Ram]

If Zaheer were to be dropped, its not because he lost the last match for us, but because he has been bowling poorly in one-dayers for quite a while now. In fact , i am struggling to recollect even one worthwhile spell from his in the last few months in one-dayers. We have seen standout good bowlers in a match, but Zaheer was the stand-out poor bowler in yesterday's match. Absolutely no penetration. As much as i hate to say this, under the present scenario, i would rather have Sreesanth than Zaheer in our team. At the least, Sreesanth brings that bit of variety into the attack.

[Rajiv]

..and thats why Afridi was playing there Why Blame Zaheer, he has hot Mcgrath too for big ones These things happen man Its ODI man, u either bowl a yorker or hope it swings. When a player like Afridi is batting who will hit anyways, there is little you can do The above is after the fact that zaheer cannot bowl a wide or a no ball

[bharat297]

If Zaheer were to be dropped, its not because he lost the last match for us, but because he has been bowling poorly in one-dayers for quite a while now. In fact , i am struggling to recollect even one worthwhile spell from his in the last few months in one-dayers. We have seen standout good bowlers in a match, but Zaheer was the stand-out poor bowler in yesterday's match. Absolutely no penetration. As much as i hate to say this, under the present scenario, i would rather have Sreesanth than Zaheer in our team. At the least, Sreesanth brings that bit of variety into the attack.

Agreed that if he were to be dropped it would be because of his poor form over the past few months, but what I was trying to say was that he shouldnt be dropped for the next game. The main reason I am saying this is because he single handedly lost us the last match and thus will be eager to get some payback on the Pakistanis and if he does India can benefit from that. However, call me crazy if u want, but from what I have seen of zaheer, sreesanth, irfan and rp ... and despite yesterday ... I still maintain that Zaheer is our best pace bowler at the death.