Zaheer Khan was born on 8 October 1978 and is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014.
41 Facts About Zaheer Khan
2.
Zaheer Khan was the second-most successful Indian pace bowler in Test cricket, behind Kapil Dev.
3.
Zaheer Khan started his domestic career by playing for Baroda.
4.
Zaheer Khan is often considered one of the best Indian fast bowlers.
5.
Zaheer Khan's career is noted for recurring injuries, which often interrupted his progress at the international level.
6.
Zaheer Khan excelled in reverse swing with the old ball.
7.
Zaheer Khan is praised for his performances on flat subcontinent pitches and the controlling of different types of cricket balls.
8.
Zaheer Khan was selected as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2008.
9.
Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket in October 2015.
10.
Zaheer Khan played for Worcestershire in County Cricket and played for Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians in Indian domestic cricket.
11.
Only Muttiah Muralitharan and Shaun Pollock have dismissed more left-hand batsmen than Zaheer Khan, who has gotten the better of southpaws 237 times.
12.
Zaheer Khan was born on 8 October 1978 in Shrirampur, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India to parents Zakia and Bakhtiyar Khan.
13.
Zaheer Khan has an elder brother Zeeshan and younger brother Anees.
14.
Zaheer Khan played in the local Revenue Colony Cricket Club in Shrirampur after which he started his career in Pune.
15.
Zaheer Khan came to Mumbai in 1996 and joined the National Cricket Club that played in Division A in the city.
16.
Zaheer Khan played in competitions such as the Kanga Cricket League, Comrade Shield and the Purshottam Shield with the team.
17.
Zaheer Khan quickly made his name playing for Baroda in the first-class level.
18.
In 2005 Zaheer Khan, signed for Worcestershire County Cricket Club in England as one of their two overseas players, replacing Shoaib Akhtar.
19.
Zaheer Khan has played the Royal Challengers as well as Mumbai Indians before he was picked for the Delhi Daredevils in the 2015 auction.
20.
Zaheer Khan has captained the Daredevils in 2016 and 2017.
21.
In 2017 season, Zaheer Khan became the 10th bowler in the history and 8th Indian bowler, to pick 100 wickets in Indian Premier League.
22.
Zaheer Khan was selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
23.
Zaheer Khan made his Test debut against Bangladesh and ODI debut against Kenya during the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy in the same year.
24.
In late 2005 pacemen Sreesanth and R P Singh made their international debuts and became regular members of the Indian team making it difficult for Zaheer to retain his position in the playing eleven.
25.
Zaheer Khan returned for the 2005 tour of Pakistan, where India fielded three left arm pacemen and had difficulty dismissing Pakistan with a lack of variety in the bowling attack.
26.
Late in 2006, Zaheer Khan was recalled to the Test and ODI team for the tour of South Africa, following Irfan Pathan's slump in form and an injury to Munaf Patel.
27.
Zaheer Khan has taken 282 ODI wickets at an average of just over 29 runs per wicket taking 4 wickets in a match 6 times including 32 wickets against Zimbabwe at an average of 17.46 runs per dismissal.
28.
Zaheer Khan is the fourth highest wicket-taker in ODIs for India with 282 scalps behind Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Ajit Agarkar.
29.
Zaheer Khan has taken 311 Test wickets at an average of just over 32 runs per wicket.
30.
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, Brisbane, Zaheer Khan took 54 wickets from 16 matches at an average of 30 runs.
31.
In international cricket, Zaheer Khan was the first bowler to bowl knuckle ball.
32.
Zaheer Khan introduced the knuckle ball way back in 2011 world cup.
33.
Zaheer Khan used that ball to get crucial wickets at crucial times like the wickets of Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood against England and the wicket of Devon Smith against the West Indies and the wicket of Michael Hussey in the Quarter Final against Australia.
34.
Zaheer Khan has 44 World Cup wickets, spanning from 2003 to 2011, putting him in seventh place behind Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Wasim Akram, Chaminda Vaas, Mitchell Starc and Lasith Malinga on the list of highest number of wickets by a bowler the marquee event.
35.
Zaheer Khan is tied with Srinath in sixth but Srinath has played 34 games as opposed to Zaheer's 23.
36.
Zaheer Khan, who was one of India's trump cards during their World Cup triumph in 2011, finished as the joint highest wicket-taker along with Shahid Afridi with 21 scalps.
37.
Zaheer Khan took two wickets in two consecutive deliveries, dismissing Michael Clarke for 31 and Mike Hussey for a duck.
38.
Zaheer Khan toured South Africa in December 2013 and New Zealand in 2014.
39.
Zaheer Khan was appointed as bowling consultant for the India national cricket team in 2017.
40.
In 2014 Zaheer Khan founded a fitness and sports company ProSport Fitness and Services in Mumbai, that offers fitness training and physiotherapy services.
41.
Zaheer Khan stated that the objective was to "bring in world class fitness program to India for sports injury management".