Former India star Zaheer Khan retired as one of the game's greats for his feats with the ball. Interestingly, the former Indian pacer bowled left-arm spin during a Test match and nearly picked a wicket. That incident happened during the 2002 Antigua Test against West Indies.
India’s former pace ace was bowling to Cameron Cuffy in the last over of the game. Coming round the wicket Cuffy got a ball which short of length that the batter tried to defend. The West Indian got a leading edge and Zaheer nearly got a wicket but failed to hold onto the return catch.
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Antigua’s 2002 Test is one of the few occasions when all 11 players bowled in the game. This is the same game where Anil Kumble had broken his jaw while batting. Anil Kumble then came out to bowl with a bandage around his jaw and picked one wicket. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid picked a wicket each.
Opening batter Wasim Jaffer bowled 11 overs and picked 2 wickets for 18 runs. Fellow opener Shiv Sundar Das bowled 8 overs while Ajay Ratra bowled one over. India batted first and scored 513/9 while West Indies scored 629/9 as the game was drawn.
Zaheer Khan: One of India’s greatest bowlers
At a time when India was known for its seam and swing bowling, Zaheer Khan’s entry was like a breath of fresh air. At that time Javagal Srinath was the only pacer capable of bowling 90 miles per hour. The left-arm seamer made his ODI debut against Kenya and picked 3/48 from his ten overs.
His ability to bowl toe-crushing Yorkers made Zaheer an instant hit with the fans. Sourav Ganguly gave the left-arm seamer his Test debut a month later against Bangladesh who were playing their first ever Test. Khan picked 3 wickets in the game as India won by 9 wickets.
The 2003 ODI World Cup final saw Zaheer face the biggest test of his career but nerves took over. 18 runs were scored off the 1st over as Australia posted 359 on the board and won the title by 125 runs. Redemption came 8 years later when Zaheer Khan bowled 3 maiden overs to give India a great start to the game.
Zaheer played 92 Test matches and picked 311 wickets with 11 fifers and one ten-wicket haul. In his last Test innings, the left-arm bowled 51 overs and picked 5/170 against New Zealand. With the bat, Khan scored 1321 runs with 3 fifties with a best of 75.
In the ODI format, the former Indian pacer picked 282 wickets with one fifer and played a key role in the 2011 ODI World Cup win. The left-arm seamer also picked 17 T20 wickets from 17 games with a best of 4/19. Zaheer called time on his career in 2015 and played a few seasons of IPL before exiting the game for good in 2017. He is currently with Lucknow Super Giants serving as the mentor for the IPL side.
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