Stats: Comparing Zaheer Khan's record with the best Indian fast bowlers

India’s top 5 fast bowlers

Batting friendly surfaces and hot and dry climate – India has always been a hell for the fast bowlers. The lack of quality pacers is still a headache for the Indian cricket team as they find it very tough to win a match outside the sub-continent, where conditions are conducive only to quick bowling.

India has witnessed the birth of numerous great batting talents, but the batsman-loving nation has shown no interest in grooming good pacers. Some experts are of the opinion that the body language of the Indians is not suited for bowling at wild speeds, but the fact that Pakistan has always been a cradle for speedsters refutes the theory.

No matter what the reason, life has always been extremely tough for fast bowlers in India.

However, fighting against all odds, some determined players have emerged to lift the fast bowling department of India from trash. A few of those are Zaheer Khan, Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Ashish Nehra. Though they might not be the greatest in the world, these players are undoubtedly the best India has ever produced.

Kapil showed the world that India too has got talent and fight, with his consistent performances till his retirement from the game in 1994. He was succeeded by Javagal Srinath in the following year, who formed a deadly combo with Venkatesh Prasad in the later years of the 20th century. Who can ever forget Prasad’s epic reply to Aamir Sohail in the 1996 World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan?

A lot of credit goes to the Zaheer-Srinath-Nehra trio too as they are the ones who paved the way for India to the 2003 World Cup final. Zaheer, along with Nehra, were the spearheads of Sourav Ganguly’s bowling attack during that tournament.

Zaheer continued to be a vital cog in the playing XI, which was later led by M.S. Dhoni. He then played an instrumental role in the 2011 World Cup, claiming 21 wickets in just 9 games and eventually leading India to the nation’s second 50 over World Cup title.

Nehra’s performances weren’t that too bad either, with his best moment coming in the semi-final of the same tournament. His late swinging deliveries and precise yorkers helped India beat Pakistan in the semi-finals, thus sealing a spot for the team in the World Cup finals for the second time in three tournaments.

So the question is, how does Zaheer Khan compare with India’s best fast bowlers on the basis of statistics? T20 statistics have not been included because the other Indian bowlers (Kapil Dev, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath) have never played for India in the shortest format of the game.

In Tests

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Best Bowling figures(Innings)	Best Bowling (Match)
Zaheer Khan	92	311	32.94	7/87	10/149
Kapil Dev	131	434	29.64	9/83	11/146
Javagal Srinath	67	236	30.49	8/86	13/132
Venkatesh Prasad	33	96	35.00	6/33	10/153
Ashish Nehra	17	44	42.40	4/72	6/117

No wonder Kapil Dev is regarded as one of the best all-rounders of all time. He is the only Indian pacer with more than 400 wickets, and that too with an average that is a tad below 30.

Zaheer and Srinath have done a pretty decent job for India as they are the second and third most successful quick bowlers in tests. However, Prasad and Nehra failed to make much of an impact in the longer format of the game.

Player	5 Wicket Innings	10 Wicket Matches	Economy	Strike Rate
Zaheer Khan	11	1	3.27	60.4
Kapil Dev	23	2	2.78	63.9
Javagal Srinath	10	1	2.85	64.0
Venkatesh Prasad	7	1	2.86	73.3
Ashish Nehra	0	0	3.24	78.3

With 23 five-wicket hauls and a magnificent economy of 2.78, Kapil is the clear winner here. Though Zaheer is a little bit on the expensive side, he has the best strike rate among the five pacers.

Venkatesh Prasad seems to have a really impressive economy rate, although the fact that he takes 73 balls per wicket doesn’t seem to be that great.

Home stats

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	Strike Rate
Zaheer Khan	38	104	35.87	3.06	70.2
Kapil Dev	65	219	26.49	2.85	55.7
Javagal Srinath	32	108	26.61	2.85	55.8
Venkatesh Prasad	11	27	31.25	2.53	73.9
Ashish Nehra	1	1	66.00	2.86	138.0

Bowlers usually tend to do well in home conditions and the same is in the case of Kapil and Srinath, who have better numbers at home than their overall record.

The duo share almost identical numbers when it comes to average, economy and strike rate, however, the latter has played almost twice the number of matches than the former, and has also taken double the number of wickets.

Despite possessing the skill to reverse the old ball, Zaheer’s overall numbers at home is a bit lower compared to Kapil and Srinath.

Overseas stats

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	Strike Rate
Zaheer Khan	54	207	31.47	3.4	55.4
Kapil Dev	66	215	32.85	2.72	72.2
Javagal Srinath	35	128	33.76	2.85	70.8
Venkatesh Prasad	22	69	36.46	2.99	73.1
Ashish Nehra	16	43	41.86	3.26	76.9

Conventional wisdom says pacers will perform better in overseas conditions than in India, but stats speak a different story. The average of Kapil and Srinath dips to 33 and 34 respectively from 26 at home. Only Zaheer has maintained a better average and strike rate than his home stats, as the rest 4 spends more than 70 deliveries for each wicket in away matches.

Almost 2/3rd of Zaheer’s total wickets are in overseas conditions, which elucidates how Ganguly made use of Zak’s precise swing bowling to win matches outside India.

Zaheer Khan has taken 282 wickets in 200 ODI matches

In ODIs

Overall stats

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Best Bowling Figures
Zaheer Khan	200	282	29.43	5/42
Kapil Dev	225	253	27.45	5/43
Javagal Srinath	229	315	28.08	5/23
Venkatesh Prasad	161	196	32.30	5/27
Ashish Nehra	120	157	31.72	6/23

In One-day internationals, the Indian quicks have done a far better job. This should not come as a surprise as the men in blue have always been quite dominant in the shorter format of the game.

Srinath leads the way with a whopping 315 scalps from 229 matches at an average of 27.45 is the pick of the bowlers, with Zaheer Khan closely following him with 282 wickets from 200 games.

Nehra’s 6/23 against England in the 2003 World Cup, when he single-handedly ripped the heart of the English batting line-up with unprecedented precision and movement, is the best bowling figures by an Indian fast bowler in a World Cup match.

Player	5 Wickets	Economy	Strike Rate
Zaheer Khan	1	4.93	35.8
Kapil Dev	1	3.71	44.2
Javagal Srinath	3	4.44	37.8
Venkatesh Prasad	1	4.67	41.4
Ashish Nehra	2	5.19	36.6

The overall numbers indicate that Javagal Srinath has been India’s finest fast bowler in ODIs.

On the other hand, Kapil’s economy of 3.71 is not at all baffling, considering the generation in which he played the gentleman’s game.

Home stats

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	Strike Rate
Zaheer Khan	65	94	30.21	5.19	34.8
Kapil Dev	85	100	27.15	4.00	40.6
Javagal Srinath	80	103	30.51	4.58	39.9
Venkatesh Prasad	46	64	28.76	4.76	36.2
Ashish Nehra	33	42	42.11	6.36	39.7

Except Nehra, all the other 4 bowlers possess a bowling average below 31 at home, with Srinath again leading with 103 scalps at an average of 30.51 and a remarkable economy of 4.58.

Zaheer’s economy might be slightly higher, thanks to the advent of T20 cricket in this century, although 94 wickets from 65 matches at a strike rate of 34.8 is far too big to be overlooked.

Away (home of opposition) and neutral venue stats

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	Strike Rate
Zaheer Khan	135	188	29.04	4.8	36.2
Kapil Dev	140	153	27.64	3.55	46.6
Javagal Srinath	149	212	26.9	4.37	36.9
Venkatesh Prasad	115	132	34.02	4.63	44.0
Ashish Nehra	87	115	27.93	4.72	35.5

As per the statistics, it’s very clear that Javagal Srinath has been India’s best fast bowler in ODIs with 212 wickets from 149 matches. However, Zaheer’s wicket taking ability irrespective of the venue is also something that is worthy of a lot of praise.

It might not be absolutely right to compare these rare talents, as they are players of different eras, but to some extent, statistics might help us to analyze the performances of these pacers.

No matter whatever the stats tell, on their day, these tearaway quicks were nothing short of world-class and have also scripted numerous victories for the Indian cricket team.