Warmed-up Zaheer ready to hit top gear

Having beaten Sri Lanka with more than a day to spare in Kanpur,dont be surprised if you see Zaheer Khan putting his...

Having beaten Sri Lanka with more than a day to spare in Kanpur,dont be surprised if you see Zaheer Khan putting his feet up on the eve of the final Test match starting on Wednesday. Unlike many of his compatriots,the left-arm paceman doesnt like to spend too much time in the nets on the eve of a match,and having arrived in Mumbai four days before this game,he has taken full advantage of the extended preparation time.

Zaheer bowled at full tilt at opener Murali Vijay for a couple of hours on his first day here,and followed that up with another long spell at the nets on Monday. Fresh from his day off on Tuesday,the under-pressure Sri Lankans can expect to face a fired-up Zaheer once the third and final Test begins.

After being forced to miss six months of international cricket with a shoulder injury,the left-armer speedster made his much-awaited comeback in the first Test at Ahmedabad. While his returns in the series have so far been meagre four wickets at 55.75 Zaheer has looked in good rhythm and picked up crucial wickets,dismissing the dangerous Tillakaratane Dilshan twice in the series.

Sudhir Naik,his first coach,is confident that Zaheer is fully warmed up now. He has been out for a considerable amount of time and its always difficult to recover from a shoulder

injury. He has got his bearings and should be back to his

best at Brabourne,where he knows the conditions well, says the former Indian cricketer,who first spotted Zaheer as a gawky teenager.

Incidentally,it was in Johannesburg,where Sreesanth famously bowled India to their first Test on South African soil,that Zaheer marked his last comeback. And though he did pick up five wickets then,he played second fiddle to his partner,just as he did last week in Kanpur.

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It is crucial to have a fast bowler complementing you at the other end. Ishant (Sharma) was off target at Ahmedabad while the presence of an in-form Sreesanth really will lift Zaheer, Naik said.