Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan (born 7 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014.

He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler.

He was the second-most successful Indian pace bowler in Test cricket, behind Kapil Dev.

Zaheer Khan started his domestic career by playing for Baroda.

In the early years of his career, Zaheer Khan was known for his hostile seam and pace bowling, especially fast inch-perfect yorkers.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers to have represented India.

He was born on 7 October 1978 in Shrirampur, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India to parents Zakia and Bakhtiyar Khan.

He was born in a Marathi Muslim family.

He has an elder brother Zeeshan and younger brother Anees.

He started his coaching under Utsav Yadav.

Zaheer attended the New Marathi Primary school and the K.J. Somaiyya Secondary School in Shrirampur.

He also played in the local Revenue Colony Cricket Club (RCC) in Shrirampur after which he started his career in Pune.

Khan came to Mumbai in 1996 and joined the National Cricket Club that played in Division A in the city.

He played in competitions such as the Kanga Cricket League, Comrade Shield and the Purshottam Shield with the team.

Sandeep Mahadkar, Khan's captain during the time, recalled the latter's ability with the ball with an instance where he reverse swung a ball that had been bowled 50 overs with, bowling ten maiden overs and helping his team win a Comrade Shield game.

His ability with the bat was recalled by another former teammate with who Khan put together a 102-run stand for ninth wicket making an unbeaten 62 runs taking his team home.

His "jaw-dropping spells in the Purshottam Shield" culminated with the 7/74 performance against Shivaji Park Gymkhana in January 1997.

he was later sent to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai by Sudhir Naik, owner of the National Cricket Club.

Impressed by his talent, the bowling coach there, T. A. Sekhar, pushed Khan to play for Baroda.

Khan quickly made his name playing for Baroda in the first-class level.

In the final of the 2000–01 season of the Ranji Trophy against Railways, Khan received the man of the match award after he returned figures of 8/145 for the match, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings (5/16), helping his team lift the trophy for the fifth time and a first in 43 years.

With India, he was a member of the team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, and one of the key members of the 2011 World Cup winning team, leading the pace attack with 21 wickets in just 9 games.

In 2005 Khan, signed for Worcestershire County Cricket Club in England as one of their two overseas players, replacing Shoaib Akhtar.

Although Worcestershire went on to lose the match, Zaheer took ten wickets against Somerset on debut; in doing so he became the first Worcestershire player to take 10 wickets on debut for over 100 years.

In a bid to improve his bowling, Zaheer Khan moved to England for a short stint with Worcestershire in 2006.

A left-arm fast-medium bowler, he was best known for his ability to "move the ball both ways off the wicket and swing the old ball at some pace".

Zaheer Khan excelled in reverse swing with the old ball.

He is praised for his performances on flat subcontinent pitches and the controlling of different types of cricket balls.

Khan transferred to Mumbai at the start of the 2006–07 Indian cricket season his debut for Mumbai until the final of the Ranji Trophy in which he took 9 wickets as Mumbai defeated Bengal.

Zaheer Khan was selected as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2008.

In 2011 he was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award by the President of India.

Zaheer Khan's career is also noted for recurring injuries, which often interrupted his progress at the international level.

That is also the reason Zaheer Khan has set up ProSport Fitness & Services, a special rehab & training center in association with Adrian Le Roux and Andrew Leipus.

Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket in October 2015.

He also played for Worcestershire in County Cricket and played for Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians in Indian domestic cricket.

Only Muttiah Muralitharan (325) and Shaun Pollock (252) have dismissed more left-hand batsmen than Zaheer Khan, who has gotten the better of southpaws 237 times.

He also has the distinct record of dismissing Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Matthew Hayden – some of the game's most feared left-hand batsmen – over 10 times each in international cricket.

On 24 April 2017, he announced on his Twitter account that he was engaged to actress Sagarika Ghatge.

The couple got married on 23 November 2017.

In 2020, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri.