Zaheer Khan was lethal with his outswing and a great change of pace, opines Graeme Smith

05/02/2022

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Former South Africa cricketer Graeme Smith has said that Zaheer Khan was one of the most skillful bowlers to play against with his outswing and a variation in pace. Smith also added that he bowled well with the reverse-swinging ball and the batter has to be always on his guard while facing Zaheer.

Zaheer Khan has one of the finest bowlers in the history of world cricket. He has 311 Test wickets from 92 matches, 282 wickets from 200 ODIs, and 17 T20I wickets. He revolutionised his game with the changes in the sport and also used knuckle ball in the ODI World Cup 2011 so often for the first time. He troubled many of the world-class batters but got better off Graeme Smith most of the time.

Smith has praised Zaheer saying that the pacer was a very skillful bowler with his deliveries swinging away and using change of pace smartly.

“Zaheer was one of the skillful bowlers I've faced, especially to left-handers. He got the ball to swing away and had a great change of pace. He bowled well with the reverse-swinging ball. He was someone against whom you would always want to be on your guard,” Smith said.

“He certainly got the better of me on a couple of occasions! But yes, he was certainly one of the most skillful bowlers in my entire career, of all who I have faced.”

Smith retired from the game in 2014 at the age of 33. He works as director of cricket for the South Africa men’s national team.