When Dhoni was asked about Zaheer’s mastery of reverse-swing after theMohali victory, he immediately spoke of the example that he’s set foreveryone else
Cricinfo staff21-Oct-2008
Australian hopes went the way of Brad Haddin’s splayed stumps © Getty Images
Four years ago, Zaheer Khan walked off the turf at the Vidharbha CricketAssociation Stadium with Australian whoops of joy ringing in his ears. Afour-match series of which so much had been expected had ended inside fourdays on a green-tinged pitch that had brought smiles and smirks toAustralian faces. The final game in Mumbai, which should have been amarquee occasion, instead became an irrelevant dead rubber on a dustbowl.Zaheer took 6 for 159 in Nagpur, perfectly respectable for a pace bowlerin Indian conditions. But Glenn McGrath had 5 for 106 and Jason Gillespie,the eye-popping return of 9 for 80 as Australia romped to a 342-runvictory, India’s heaviest Test defeat in terms of runs. It was enough to tell you howmuch Zaheer still had to do. He was good, but he certainly wasn’t special,not in the way that Australia’s legends were.Fast forward four years, and his three wickets in four balls ensured thatRicky Ponting’s side would crash to their most humiliating defeat inyears. Not since Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson, Malcolm Marshall andCourtney Walsh sent Allan Border’s side stumbling to a 343-run defeat atthe Kensington Oval, in April 1991, has an Australian team been so comprehensively outplayed. That was to be Vivian Richards’ final series as captain and though West Indies won comfortably enough, there was a feeling that the end of an era was imminent.The once-were-warriors headlines will be rehashed with some force afterthis Australian defeat, and speculation over why they were so poor overthe five days threatens to overshadow the real story of the match andseries so far – India’s magnificent pace bowling. The 20-year-old IshantSharma, who has troubled Ponting like few others have, is the leadingwicket-taker in the series, and jokes about the “hairodynamic” advantagehe possesses won’t sound funny to Australians for much longer if hecontinued to bowl with such pace, accuracy and control of swing.Whisper it softly, but India havethe more accomplished pace attack in this series, and especially in theseconditions. And in the man whose months out of the charmed circle made himrealise the value of what he had squandered, they have the perfect leaderof the pack Ishant is still learning though, and his story certainly doesn’t have theelements of wilderness and redemption that Indians tend to be so fond of.For that, you have to look more closely at his new-ball partner. When hecame on the scene in 2000, Zaheer was such an exciting prospect that thecomparisons with Wasim Akram weren’t even forced. Within a couple of yearsthough, they sounded ridiculous. It wasn’t that Zaheer wasn’t capable ofgood spells, it was just that he was incapable of stringing a few together. Comparisons with the man Mike Selvey referred to as the Left Hand of God were as premature and silly as the anointing of Monty Panesar as the new Bedi.By the time Zaheer was eased out of the squad after India’s embarrassing 341-run defeat in Karachi, he had taken 121 wickets from 42 Tests at an average of 36.34. Allan Davidson he was not, and there were few complaints as a new group of pace bowlers was entrusted with lifting Indian cricket’s stocks.Within the year though, Zaheer was back, having turned in one eye-catchingdisplay after another in domestic cricket to book a seat on the flight toSouth Africa. With the wet weather having forced the team indoors, hefronted up to the media inside a university gymnasium in Cape Town. In asoft voice and earnest tone, he spoke repeatedly of the time on thesidelines and how it had made him realise how much playing for India meantto him. And though he was outbowled by Sreesanth in the Test series, hisattitude throughout was that of a man who had seen the error of his waysand was determined to make every millisecond count.When Dhoni was asked about Zaheer’s mastery of reverse-swing after theMohali victory, he immediately spoke of the example that he’s set foreveryone else. “He’s bowling at his best. His commitment is great, he’sfit and he bowls his heart out, even in conditions where the bowlers arenot getting much help. His form is brilliant right now.”He suggested that Venkatesh Prasad would be better equipped to comment onthe work that goes on in the nets, but Ponting was emphatic in hisassessment that reverse had played a huge part in India’s victory. “Intheir first innings, it took us 70 to 80 overs to get the reverse-swinggoing. Their guys were doing it within six to eight overs. That’s a bigdifference.”They didn’t just get the reverse going though. They controlled itbeautifully. Zaheer certainly has done it before. In England in the summer of 2007, he saved his best for Trent Bridge, especially after a puerile English prank that involved jellybeans on the pitch. He swung the ball both ways, and was lethal from round thestumps too as India clinched the victory that would seal the series.
Most Indian bowlers speak of the benefits they have had from working with Venkatesh Prasad © AFP
That was with the Duke ball. Earlier this year, he got tremendous shapewith the Kookaburra in Sri Lanka. In conditions that offered next tonothing for the pace bowlers, Zaheer’s figures were unremarkable, butthere was certainly no stinting on effort. If India’s slow bowlers hadn’tbeen so below the standards set by Ajantha Mendis and MuttiahMuralitharan, India might have done better than a 2-1 defeat.Now armed with the SG, he’s even more dangerous than he was in his Duke ofHazard phase. He’s shut down Matthew Hayden three times in four innings,and devastated the tail twice. The lower order simply has no answer todeliveries that shape in like a boomerang, and the look of bemusement onBrad Haddin’s face after Australian hopes went the way of his splayedstumps was worth framing.Just as they were in the 2005 Ashes, Australia’s pace bowlers have beenstymied by a ball that’s different to the Kookaburra that they use athome, and their inability to get the right length and shape going. TroyCooley, who played first-class cricket for Tasmania, became a big nameafter that English win, but as someone pointed out, India have a bowlingcoach who was actually an international-class bowler.Venkatesh Prasad doesn’t have a feature written about him every other day,but most of the bowlers speak of the benefits they have had fromworking with him. On tours of England (1996) and South Africa (a fewmonths later), Prasad bowled as well as any Indian swing bowler has everdone. Reverse-swing wasn’t quite his forte though, and beforeZaheer, only Manoj Prabhakar among the Indians had truly mastered pacebowling’s most mysterious art.In his second phase of his career, which has now encompassed 16 Tests,Zaheer has taken 67 wickets at 28.80. Not quite a McGrath, you mightthink, until you notice that a lot of those matches were on pitches asresponsive as a mannequin on Red Bull. Whisper it softly, but India havethe more accomplished pace attack in this series, and especially in theseconditions. And in the man whose months out of the charmed circle made himrealise the value of what he had squandered, they have the perfect leaderof the pack.
