Windfall for Zaheer

For Zaheer,Basin highs aren’t something new. The last time he bowled in a Test here was in December 2002,and the full-of-beans-but-green-behind-the-ears pacer got his first five-wicket haul. A 23-year-old back then,Zaheer was still India’s pace spearhead but an apprentice when it came to understanding the intricacies of fast bowling. Seven years later,he is seen as the best bowler in the world when it comes to adapting to the vagaries of pitches.

Just a few months back,Zaheer was seen as a man who had mastered the early reverse swing and passed the craft on to his junior partners as India humbled the Aussies on slow and low tracks at home. On Saturday,his spell showed the likes of Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel how to make the optimum use of the conditions. Bowling with the wind behind him all day,Zaheer first aimed to perfect the speed and rhythm needed to hit the right spots. And when he attained that,he bent his back to bowl that surprise effort ball that caught the batsmen unawares.

He got India the first breakthrough with a change in angle. He opted to go around the wicket for the final ball of his fourth over and bowled it from the corner of the crease. For the right-handed Kiwi opener,Martin Guptill,the change was unsettling and he dragged the ball onto his stumps. He got his second wicket on the first ball of his sixth over that picked up from good length and Daniel Flynn edged it to the wicket-keeper. Tim McIntosh’s dismissal,too,was similar,just that he was caught at slips.

Later in the day,when the wind died for a while and the movement was less pronounced,Zaheer concentrated on the spongy bounce to induce a false shot. It was hard work since Zaheer banged it short. Jesse Ryder was out chasing a ball that should have been left alone while Zaheer’s final wicket can be credited to a simple mind game. An array of short-pitched deliveries to teenager Tim Southee and several stares incited the youngster to pull. Eventually,he mistimed a cross-batted shot and the ball looped back to Zaheer.

The Zaheer show left Ishant speechless. “What can I say? He always supports us. He knows how to adapt to conditions. Whenever we make mistakes he comes up and tells us what we should do,” said Ishant,paying rich tributes to the bowler whom he referred to as the “nice guy”.

Pacers aren’t always called the nice guys,but then Zaheer is different.