if you have come to read it thinking about certain sachin in mind... please don't even bother to read beyond this line coz this post is not about him...
its about zak... zaheer khan... when no one can...
Zaheer takes a wicket every 58.6 balls. Of all the bowlers who played for India and took 100 wickets or more; no one has a better strike rate. For reference Kapil stands @ 63.9, Kumble and Chandrashekhar @ 65.9 and Bedi @ 80.3
- facts courtesy opinions on cricket...
naturally when zaheer don't take wickets... india struggles... considering bhajji has refused to take the lead spinner role let alone the lead bowler... and ojha being a defensive bowler at best...
together they are not creating enough wicket taking opportunities and reasons are apparent... obvious...
india is playing with virtually non-existent second pace bowler... sree has been erratic at best... ishant struggling with fitness and form... and selectors not showing enough balls to look for pace bowlers beyond these two until unless forced by the way of injury...
this has resulted in a tremendous pressure on zak who is supposed to take wickets with new ball... with old ball... supposed to check the flow of runs and keep the one end going while the bowlers from other end seem more interested in creating bowling dots all over the pitch...
still zaheer's name is not taken in the same breath as his more pedigreed colleagues as the reason india rose to the summit of test ranking... but this rant is for another day...
unlike previous dominant forces... team india has adopted a different route to achieve results... their no-nonsense batting...
although test match advances coz of wickets but team india is consistently putting up huge totals or over coming it in no time which not only gives our bowler enough time to bowl opposition out but give an additional teeth of pressure of total on board...
australia becoming the first team to lose a test match in india despite putting up 450+ score in first innings recently is the case in point...
but this strategy backfires when pitches doesn't even have the semblance of life coz then it neutralises everything... one of the reason india could not force issues in current series with new zealand... on the likes of pitches where even a tailender in sree could play out 70 odd deliveries without looking much in trouble against the likes of vettori and company...
it seems that curator's and team india's missions are poles apart... that simply defies the endeavor of a world no.1 test ranking nation... that team india is no.1 despite all these limitations is testimony to its character, attitude, intent and mental strength...
but in short india can afford to have an off day from any bowler but zak... the fit zaheer could have still extracted the result from this track and there in lies the story...
