Name of the Sportsperson: Zaheer Khan
Discipline: Cricket
Date of Birth: 7-10-1978
Achievements and Awards:
• Became the third Indian bowler to have taken more than 150 Test wickets outside India.
• Was India's highest wicket taker in the 2003 World Cup.
• In County Cricket, Zaheer became the first Worcestershire player to take 10 wickets in a match on debut debut over 100 years.
• Was the highest wicket-taker in the year 2007 picking up an astonishing 81 wickets in Tests & ODIs.
• Against Australia in 2008, Zaheer became third Indian after Rusi Surti and Kapil Dev to score a half century and take five wickets in an innings in the same match.
• Was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2008.
Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who was born in Shrirampur, Maharashtra. He has been a member of Indian Cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack. Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways. He can also use reverse swing when the ball becomes old. As a batsman he holds the record of 75 runs as the highest run scorer at number 11. He made his Test debut against Bangladesh and ODI against Kenya during the ICC Knock Out Trophy in the same year.
In Indian domestic cricket, Zaheer made his name playing for Baroda. In 2000/01 Ranji Trophy final against Railways, Zaheer was Man of the Match with eight wickets, including a second innings victory. He transferred to Mumbai at the start of 2006/07 Indian cricket season his debut for Mumbai until the final of the Ranji Trophy in which he took 9 wickets as Mumbai defeated Bengal. In 2006, Zaheer signed for Worcestershire County Cricket Club in England as one of their two overseas players, replacing Sohaib Akhtar. Although Worcestershire went on to lose the match, Zaheer took ten wickets against Somerset on debut, in doing so he became the first Worcestershire player to take 10 wickets on debut for over 100 years. His consistent performances on tour in 2007, in home ODIs against West Indies & Sri Lanka including his career best 5/42, saw him named in the squad for 2007 World Cup. He won the Man of the Match in the first Test between India and Australia in 2008/09 series in Indoa for his all round performance with the bat & ball.
He has taken 271 ODI wickets at an average of 28.83 per wicket taking four wicket taking 4 wickets in a match (4 times against Zimbabwe) including 32 wickets against Zimbabwe at an average of 17.46 runs per dismissal. Zaheer was the mainstay of Indian bowling attack during the side's victorious 2011 World Cup campaign. He was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, joint with Pakistan's Shahid Afridi on 21 wickets.
Zaheer has taken over 270 wickets at an average of just under 32 runs per wicket. In 16 matches from the beginning of the tour of West Indies in April 2002 to the end of the 1st Match against Australia in December 2003, Zaheer took 54 wickets from 16 matches at an average of 30 runs. Zaheer holds the record for the highest Test score by a number 11 when he scored 75 against Bangladesh in 2004. At the time he was batting with Sachin, the pair amassed 133 runs, a new record for India's tenth wicket. He was the leading bowler of Indian pace attack in 2011 World Cup and was the team's most successful fast bowler in winning the Cup.
