The opening day of the first Test between England and India at Lord's saw the visitors seize the initiative early on and let it slip, courtesy some patchy bowling and inept fielding, as the day progressed.
'Zaheer was brilliant. We need players who can come ahead and play like him,' said India's captain after the seven-wicket victory over England in the second Test.
India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is likely to play in Mumbai's next two Ranji Trophy games -- against Orissa at Cuttack later this month and Saurashtra at Rajkot next month. The selectors will monitor his progress in these two games before taking a final call.
Disruptive pacer S Sreesanth was recalled to the Indian Test squad for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka, beginning in Ahmedabad, next week. Pacer Zaheer Khan, having recovered after shoulder injury, also returned to the side as expected.
The former India paceman returned with figures of 5-27 as Worcestershire bowled out Northants for 67 in the first innings of the County Championship Division 2 match.
Despite four Indian batsmen scoring centuries, Zaheer Khan stole the show in Dhaka.
They claimed four wickets each to bundle out Uttar Pradesh for a lowly 148 before Rest of India were reduced to 131 for seven.
Sourav Ganguly's hopes of returning to the Indian team suffered a setback as he was not picked in the Rest of India team for the Irani Trophy tie against Uttar Pradesh.
Cites 'being in rhythm' as factor for success
On his injury, Zaheer Khan said he would return to South Africa soon for the second part of his rehabilitation and vowed to return to the field stronger and fitter.
Worcestershire's Indian left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan destroyed Essex with a nine-wicket haul in the first innings of the County Championship Division Two match.
A bowler transformed in England's second innings, Indian pacer Ishant Sharma credited his senior partner Zaheer Khan for the turnaround during which he grabbed four wickets in the ongoing first cricket Test at Lord's in London on Sunday.
The Indian selectors named left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan in the 17-member squad for the tour of Australia, which begins on December 26, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Statistical highlights of the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore on Tuesday.
In good news for India, their bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan and fellow pacer Ishant Sharma appeared to be fit to play in the opening Test against Australia beginning in Melbourne, on Monday.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid on Tuesday backed out-of-favour players like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir who have been included in the India 'A' squad against visiting West Indies 'A' to get back to form and return to the Indian Test team.
ICC president Zaheer Abbas has said it was the right time to resume bilateral cricket ties between India and Pakistan as the whole world wants to see the two nations play each other.
The Indian selectors named left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan in the 17-member squad for the tour of Australia, which begins on December 26, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Sachin Tendulkar remained static at ninth in the batting list, while Zaheer Khan fell a rung, to occupy the ninth position in the bowling charts in the latest ICC Test rankings released on Friday.
Sachin Tendulkar remained the highest placed Indian batsman at his unchanged fifth position, while injured pacer Zaheer Khan held on to his sixth spot in the bowling chart of the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Sunday.
India will, in all likelihood, go into the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, beginning Friday, with two of their crucial players missing from the line-up. While Zaheer Khan is certain to miss the Test (and maybe the third in Edgbaston as well), Gautam Gambhir also appears heading in the same direction, having suffered an elbow injury while fielding at short leg during the opening Test.
India won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka.
Zaheer Khan ripped through the New Zealand top order to give India complete control of the third and final Test in Wellington, on Saturday. Zaheer took five for 65 to help bundle out New Zealand for 197 in reply to India's first innings score of 379. In their second essay, India reached 51 for 1 in their second innings, stretching their overall lead to 233.
'India has a genius called Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the team. He is the brain of cricket in the team. He understands the game so well and has experience of leading India in two WC wins. His experience will be vital for captain and coach and he can be their trump card'
The seniors may no longer be the flavour of the season when it comes to Indian cricket but veterans Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan are leaving no stone unturned to make an unlikely comeback to the team.
England seamer Stuart Board said he has learned a few tricks from former India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan on how to excel on the sub-continent pitches.
Former ICC president and Test captain Zaheer Abbas believes Pakistan will eventually revive international cricket in the country. "I do not want to predict a time frame of international teams touring Pakistan, but I do hope over the next 2-3 years we could see them playing back in Pakistan," Abbas said. "When I used to sit on international forums as ICC president I used to talk a lot about it (cricket in Pakistan), but people didn't want to come due to their security concerns."
The ace fast bowler said bagging Tendulkar's wicket was special.
Zaheer Khan was fined 80 per cent of his match fee on Tuesday after breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during India's record 320-run victory in the second Test against Australia in Mohali. At a hearing in front of match referee Chris Broad, Khan pleaded guilty to a Level 2 charge under clause C1 of the ICC Code of Conduct which states that players "shall at all times conduct play within in the spirit of the game as well as within the Laws of Cricket".
Harbhajan Singh scored a dogged 54 and Zaheer Khan 35, as India rallied form 210-6 at tea to 313-8 by close on Day 3 of the first Test against Australia.
Congress politician Baba Siddique and his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique hosted their annual star-studded Iftar party, and the who's who of Bollywood arrived to taste the elaborate spread.
Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan's form and fitness turned out to be the main concern for the Indians after the left-armer failed to impress on the second day of their warm-up game against CA Chairman's XI, at the Manuka Oval, in Canberra, on Tuesday.
The fast bowler feels a bit more fine tuning would help him add a couple of yards to his pace.
India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan on Sunday said that he and his teammates were happy to emulate the heroics of the 1983 World Cup winning team by lifting the title in cricket's showpiece event in Mumbai on Saturday.
Images from day one of the first Test between Australia and India, in Melbourne, on Monday.
Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Anil Kumble also have bagged 3 successive ducks in ODI cricket.
The ace batsman was whisked away by wife Anjali even as television cameras and scribes tried to corner him for comments at the Mumbai airport.
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly do not find a place in the preliminary list of candidates for the 2007 ICC awards.
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