Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan is a professional Indian cricketer who has been included in the Indian cricket team since 2000. He is a left arm pace bowler and a right-handed down the order batsman. In 2000, Khan was chosen at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for the first intake. He debuted in Test Cricket at Dhaka against Bangladesh and in One day Cricket at Nairobi against Kenya during the ICC KnockOut Trophy. At present, Zaheer is a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team to play for the 2012 season.

In One day International cricket matches, Khan has taken more than 100 wickets. This comprises of an average of only 17.46 runs per wicket and overall 32 wickets against Zimbabwe. In the 2003 World Cup, Khan along with other pace bowlers like Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath assisted India to reach the final. In this Cup, Khan played in 11 matches, took 18 wickets at the average of 20 per dismissal and was the 4th highest wicket taker in the tournament.

The span of time from 2003 to 2005 was disappointing for Zaheer Khan. He played very few matches for the Indian National team. Due to his consistent declining performance he was dropped out of the team in 2006. However Zaheer started once again with domestic cricket making his name for Baroda, but at the beginning of the 2006-07 season Khan was transferred to Mumbai. Khan could not debut for Mumbai due to International commitments. Finally he played for Mumbai in the final of the Ranji Trophy and in this match Mumbai defeated Bengal while Khan took 9 wickets.

In the latter part of 2006, Khan was again included in the squad for the South Africa tour for the Tests as well as One dayers. As he performed consistently on this tour and showed a good performance in the home One day Internationals against Sri Lanka and the West Indies that comprised of a career best 5 for 42, he was included in the team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Career Highlights

Khan scored 75 runs in Dhaka in an India vs Bangladesh match in 2004 which is the world record for the highest Test score by a number 11 batsman.

In One day Internationals he has a batting average of 19.46 at the number 10 position which is the highest in the world.