India’s hopes rest heavily on Zaheer Khan’s shoulders

November 13, 2012

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Mumbai, November 13: Zaheer Khan is reckoned by most teams as one of the experts with the shining as well as the old ball. He has cultivated the happy knack of breaking a partnership making the reverse swing work; one of the reasons why the Indian team management must be hoping that the extremely dexterous left- arm seamer regains fitness for the exacting demands of Test cricket.


Moreover he’s the most experienced Indian bowler; Ishant Sharma has not exactly returned to the big league after an ankle surgery and Umesh Yadav is yet to take the big stride in international cricket.


The two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, have been successful in recent times against the West Indies and New Zealand, but like Yadav they have not sent down a ball to English batsmen in Test cricket.


The first Test against England starts on Thursday and after a three-day camp at the Brabourne Stadium here, where he went about a prescribed training meticulously and made his lower and upper limbs work to some degree of satisfaction.

Things would become clearer after he goes through the rigours at Motera.

Heavy exertions

He is 34 years old, has played 85 Tests (291 wickets) and 200 One-Day Internationals (282 wickets) over a period of 12 years. In the course of these heavy exertions he has strained his body parts and, hence, cannot be fit as a fiddle.


There is so much risk in his selection in the XI especially after he broke down after bowling 13.3 overs in the first Test at Lord’s in the English summer of 2011.


It was a major setback India did not recover from, because the clever Zaheer had caused the downfall of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook for 22 and 12 runs respectively.


India lost the series 0-4. Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni sent down eight overs in the first innings once Zaheer left the field.


Zaheer returned for the four-Test series against Australia and showed his versatile craft taking four for 77 and three for 53 at Melbourne, three for 122 at Sydney, two for 92 at Perth and two for 96 and one for 38 at Adelaide for a collection of 15 wickets at 31.80.


He was less successful against New Zealand at home recently.

Get-fit visits to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) have been frequent in the last few years; he sent down 20.5 overs in the Ranji Trophy match against Railways at the Wankhede, conceded 41 runs and picked up a wicket before leaving the ground for medical attention.


“He is just cramping a bit. He has had a long day and was probably dehydrated.

“He has worked hard enough. In the last month he trained well,” said Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar.

The selectors picked him in the 15-member squad after receiving the okay from physical trainer Ashish Kaushik.

Zaheer would have got 11 days to work on his fitness and will possibly undergo a fitness test on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.

The heat will be telling at Ahmedabad, ranging from 33 degrees Celsius to 38, and India will take an important call.

He is India’s fourth leading bowler after Anil Kumble (619 wickets), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (406).


He has played two home Tests against England — at Chennai and Mohali in the 2008-09 series — and got the wickets of Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Graeme Swann and Steve Harmison in the first Test and Strauss, Cook, and Swann in the second; most of them top flight batsmen and just the reason Dhoni would hope to get the all clear signal before he writes the team sheet before the toss.

So vital is Zaheer Khan to India’s bowling attack.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday condoled the demise of India's super cricket fan, 87-year-old Charulata Patel.

"#TeamIndia's Superfan Charulata Patel Ji will always remain in our hearts and her passion for the game will keep motivating us. May her soul rest in peace," BCCI tweeted.

Patel had made herself a household name after turning up for India's matches during the 2019 World Cup.

She went on to storm social media after she was seen cheering for the Men in Blue during their World Cup clash against Bangladesh.

After the match, the entire Indian side went to meet Patel and both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were seen meeting the octogenarian fan.

"I am a very religious person and have so much trust in God. So, when I pray, it comes true and I am saying that India is going to get the World Cup, definitely," Patel had told ANI during the World Cup.

The 87-year old had caught everyone's eyes when she was ardently cheering for the Indian team when they were batting.

Patel had also stated that she was there in the stadium when India lifted their first World Cup, back in 1983, under the leadership of former cricket Kapil Dev.

"I have been there. When they won the World Cup, I was so proud, I started dancing. And today also, I told my granddaughter that when India is going to defeat Bangladesh, I am going to dance," she had said.

"I have been watching cricket for decades. When I was in Africa, I used to watch it, then I came to this country in 1975. Here I had work because of which I did not get time to watch but I used to watch it on TV. But nowadays as I am not working, so I have the interest and I am very lucky that I get a chance to watch cricket," she added. 

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Former India opener Kris Srikkanth on Sunday said he would prefer K L Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Former India opener Kris Srikkanth on Sunday said he would prefer K L Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Dhawan is returning to international cricket after a long gap. During the senior left-handed batsman's absence, Rahul has emerged as one of the top contenders for the opener's slot in limited-overs cricket.

"Runs against SL (Sri Lanka) don't count. If I was chairman of selectors, I won't pick Dhawan in the T20 WC squad. There is no competition between him and Rahul. Only one winner," Srikkanth said on Star Sports.

Before the series, the 34-year-old Dhawan said that he is looking forward to a "new start" in a new year and wants to win the World Cup for India.

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Agencies
June 23,2020

Islamabad, Jun 23: Seven more Pakistan cricketers, including Muhammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, selected for the tour of England have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total to 10, the PCB revealed on Tuesday.

The seven who tested positive on Tuesday are Kashif Bhatti, Muhammad Hasnain, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Hafeez and Riaz. Shadab Khan, Haider Ali and Haris Rauf had returned positive tests on Monday.

“It is not a great situation to be in and what it shows is these are 10 fit and young athletes...if it can happen to players it can happen to anyone,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO, Wasim Khan told a media conference.

He said a support staff member, masseur Malang Ali, had also tested positive for COVID-19.

Khan said that the players and officials would now assemble in Lahore and another round of tests would be carried out on June 25 and a revised squad would be announced the next day.

The squad has to leave on June 28 for the series scheduled to be held next month, he said.

“It is a matter of concern but we shouldn’t panic at this time as we have time on our hands,” Khan said.

He said the players and officials would be retested on reaching England.

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