Wrong to judge Zaheer by recent form
If Eden Gardens 2012 turns out to be the final Test of Zaheer Khan's career, it would be incorrect to judge him by his recent stats, says Karthik Krishnaswamy in the Indian Express
For most of MS Dhoni's tenure as captain, Zaheer has taken his wickets in carefully timed bursts. At one point, India's entire bowling strategy at home revolved around these bursts. Keep the batsmen quiet. Pack the off side. Have Ishant Sharma bowl wide of the stumps. Use the spinners in a holding role. Bring back Zaheer when he is fresh. When the ball is reversing. When a wicket has fallen against the run of play.
"Lot of hard work has gone in during the pre-season camp and luckily everything has fallen in place for me. I wanted to make a comeback to the Indian team desperately but never expected that it will happen like this. Before the season my focus was on learning to control my strokes. Can't believe it's resulted in a Test call-up."