His fascination for butter chicken, Bollywood and Preity Zinta, and the fact that the 29-year-old is a self-confessed Indophile has caught the Indian GenNext’s imagination. Incidentally, though, Brett Lee’s pace bowling acumen hasn’t been forgotten either. Today one got to witness, rather hear, praise from the Aussie speedster for his Indian counterpart Zaheer Khan, a rarity, especially when the boys from Down Under have never really shown open appreciation for fast bowlers from India.“I think it has been a great comeback by Zaheer in England. He was written off by so many experts, but he got fitter and he has showed that there is more to him that meets the eye,” said Lee who was in the capital promoting Timex’s new product.Lee stated that he was highly impressed with the way that Zaheer improved his swing and also his fitness. “It is a rarity to see Indian fast bowlers leading their teams to a series victory. It was mostly their batting or spin bowling that dominated, but Zaheer proved the critics wrong this series,” Lee added.“We have been watching him very closely, and I must say that he has done amazingly well in England. In fact we are doing a bit of research on him since we have our India series coming up in a few weeks,” Lee stated.Always considering the Indian batsmen as formidable adversaries, Brett Lee stated that he does not think that Sachin Tendulkar has reached his peak and was hoping to have some good competition from the little master in Australia’s tour in October. “I think he has a lot left in him and would not want to see him retire. In fact I would like to see him play for a long time to come.”Back from a long layoff because of ankle injury in February, Lee is excited to make his comeback in the September Twenty20 World Cup.“It’s been rough for me these couple of months. I missed the World Cup and also had to go through a ankle operation, but I have recovered fully and have been working with Troy Cooley and the Twenty20 World Cup would be perfect setting for my comeback.”Australia will send the same World Cup-winning squad to South Africa and none of the players have really played a lot of Twenty20. Lee stated that the form of game really was about adapting and the team that does it the fastest will be the best. “As a bowler I think there are not many opportunities in this form of the game. It is more entertaining. I have not been exposed to Twenty20 and I don’t know the best economy rate a bowler should maintain, but I suppose 40 runs from 4 overs isn’t so bad considering it’s a batsman’s game,” he said.
