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What is your impression of Zaheer Khan
- Thread starter masterblaster
- Start date
Rik
Cricketer Of The Year
People will praise a player from their team too much...its called hope...but in order to become the best bowler in the world Zaheer is gonna have to shake that nasty average of 38 runs a wicket...Murali, Glenn McGrath and Pollock (even though he's gone off the boil a bit lately) are the leading bowlers with Warne and Waqar and others behind him...these guys are legends...I really can't see Zaheer beating them. If you want genuine pace and control look no further than Darren Gough...and he's not even the world's best bowler...
sheerindianspeed
Banned
[/quote]
Based on what? He's not even the best bowler in India!
In fact he's 4th, and theres 22 above him at the moment in the world.
I can't see that inn just one year he'll be a better bowler than McGrath, Pollock, Waqar, Akhtar or Gillespie, or Warne, Murali, the 2 Indian spinners or Saqlain, let alone the other bowlers ahead of him (note I deliberately didn't include any English bowlers in there - there's at least 3 of them to add to that list) [/quote]
Mark,
Maybe i should have been more careful but still there wasn't any need to overreact.
First of all I was talking about Khan with respect to pacers only, Warne, Murali are the world's best spinners ever, no comparision with them.Nor am i trying to compare Khan with McGrath,Pollock and other established bowlers.
I just believe that when all those great bowlers will retire, Khan by then would be a much better bowler and would become the leading bowler because he has the potential to become one.
Based on what? He's not even the best bowler in India!
In fact he's 4th, and theres 22 above him at the moment in the world.
I can't see that inn just one year he'll be a better bowler than McGrath, Pollock, Waqar, Akhtar or Gillespie, or Warne, Murali, the 2 Indian spinners or Saqlain, let alone the other bowlers ahead of him (note I deliberately didn't include any English bowlers in there - there's at least 3 of them to add to that list) [/quote]
Mark,
Maybe i should have been more careful but still there wasn't any need to overreact.
First of all I was talking about Khan with respect to pacers only, Warne, Murali are the world's best spinners ever, no comparision with them.Nor am i trying to compare Khan with McGrath,Pollock and other established bowlers.
I just believe that when all those great bowlers will retire, Khan by then would be a much better bowler and would become the leading bowler because he has the potential to become one.
royGilchrist
State 12th Man
And by the time these guys retire (more than 5-6 yrs) no new bowlers would come in any team???
That being said I think Khan (and the enlish guys would probably kill me for saying this) reminds me a bit of Darren Gough. He has decent speed, he has to develop more control and swing. Being a left armer should give him an natural advantage.
full_length
U19 Vice-Captain
They might well kill you 
but the Gough comparison somehow sounds right. That's not to say he's up to Gough's class yet. Maybe the comparison will sound natural in a few years time.. maybe not.
One thing one could always say with certainity about Zaheer is that he's genuine talent AND shows a capability to improve and learn after each tour. Srinath, an excellent paceman never became truly great solely because he never really seemed to learn... he was usually unplayable as long as he pitched the ball up. But he preferred to bowl it short half the time, and has basically underperformed too often for someone that classy. No international batsman could really say he could handle Srinath well. Even Sachin had trouble facing Srinath in that memorial match in England.. IMO, he lost an opportunity to become an all-time great.
My criticism of Zaheer and infact all Indian pacemen of the last few years bar Srinath was that they never seem to take the five-fors, and never manage to dominate even inthe odd match (Prasad and Srinath were the only ones to do this in the last several yearsafter Kapil-Prabhakar).
The pacemen Indian fans call 'good' are usually guys that are penetrative enough to take the first couple and last couple of wickets in a match, between them; the odd good spell in between would be a bonus. Thank God for Srinath!!!
Zaheer is special because is able to compare well with other good international bowlers in that he can consistantly trouble batsmen throughout a test match. He is one Indian bowler who gives the impression that we could have a bowler that opposition consider a very serious threat. Right now, they probably take a note of him as a good bowler, but certainly no more than that. And I'm waiting for the five-fors..
Since he's not there yet, it's probably not smart to say he compares to, say, Pollock or McGrath who are both wicket takers as well as high quality, consistant, bowlers.
but the Gough comparison somehow sounds right. That's not to say he's up to Gough's class yet. Maybe the comparison will sound natural in a few years time.. maybe not.One thing one could always say with certainity about Zaheer is that he's genuine talent AND shows a capability to improve and learn after each tour. Srinath, an excellent paceman never became truly great solely because he never really seemed to learn... he was usually unplayable as long as he pitched the ball up. But he preferred to bowl it short half the time, and has basically underperformed too often for someone that classy. No international batsman could really say he could handle Srinath well. Even Sachin had trouble facing Srinath in that memorial match in England.. IMO, he lost an opportunity to become an all-time great.
My criticism of Zaheer and infact all Indian pacemen of the last few years bar Srinath was that they never seem to take the five-fors, and never manage to dominate even inthe odd match (Prasad and Srinath were the only ones to do this in the last several yearsafter Kapil-Prabhakar).
The pacemen Indian fans call 'good' are usually guys that are penetrative enough to take the first couple and last couple of wickets in a match, between them; the odd good spell in between would be a bonus. Thank God for Srinath!!!
Zaheer is special because is able to compare well with other good international bowlers in that he can consistantly trouble batsmen throughout a test match. He is one Indian bowler who gives the impression that we could have a bowler that opposition consider a very serious threat. Right now, they probably take a note of him as a good bowler, but certainly no more than that. And I'm waiting for the five-fors..
Since he's not there yet, it's probably not smart to say he compares to, say, Pollock or McGrath who are both wicket takers as well as high quality, consistant, bowlers.
sheerindianspeed
Banned
Thats very interesting, Pollock is well above 29 yrs of age, you reckon he will be playing well upto the age of 39.Oops i don't think he's gonna last that long, at most another 4-5 years!
[Edited on 27/10/2002 by sheerindianspeed]
masterblaster
International Captain
Current Averages of Zaheer Khan
Zaheer is only 24 years old mind you
22 matches for 62 wickets at an average of 36, thats not that bad
49 One Day Matches for 76 wickets at an average of 26, with a strike rate of 33.1 and an economy rate of 4.81
Thats pretty damn good, I must say for an Indian quickie.
With age, experience and time he can bring that average of 36 down to around about mid to late 20's. And also maintain that excellent ODI average.
Zaheer is only 24 years old mind you
22 matches for 62 wickets at an average of 36, thats not that bad
49 One Day Matches for 76 wickets at an average of 26, with a strike rate of 33.1 and an economy rate of 4.81
Thats pretty damn good, I must say for an Indian quickie.
With age, experience and time he can bring that average of 36 down to around about mid to late 20's. And also maintain that excellent ODI average.
full_length
U19 Vice-Captain
A decade is usually 10 years
Note: sheerindianspeed says Pollock will be playing for 4-5 years. You say he'll be playing for 6 years, and approximate it to a decade. So now you suddenly disagree by 5-6 years.
If you didn't make that approximation, you disagree by 1-2 years. But according to you +/- 4 years approximation doesnt mean anything (going from 6 to 10). So you don't actually disagree in the first place...
Note: sheerindianspeed says Pollock will be playing for 4-5 years. You say he'll be playing for 6 years, and approximate it to a decade. So now you suddenly disagree by 5-6 years.
If you didn't make that approximation, you disagree by 1-2 years. But according to you +/- 4 years approximation doesnt mean anything (going from 6 to 10). So you don't actually disagree in the first place...
sheerindianspeed
Banned
Yeah man there is a huge gap b/w 5 and 6 yrs:rolleyes: