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... Despite being unfit, injury-prone
Zaheer is once again on the injured list, and considering the frequency with which he finds himself on this list is not funny, reports Jaideep Ghosh.
What ails Zaheer Khan? Plenty, it seems.
The left-armer is once again on the injured list, and considering the frequency with which he finds himself on this list is not funny.
What is even more humourless is the wall of silence that you are greeted with when you try to access information about the bowler's condition.
The Indian team arrived from Dambulla on Monday and went out for a photo-shoot and an official dinner in the evening. Team physio Andrew Leipus was asked what the problem was. “I haven't checked him yet. Please ask the manager about this.
Manager MN Dorairajan has no clue. “We just arrived, and have a lot of engagements, so cannot really do anything about that now.”
OK, all the official functions can be accepted. What cannot be accepted happened on Sunday.
Zaheer was injured on the field, early in the Sri Lankan innings. Coming in first-change, he bowled one over, and was replaced immediately thereafter, to be replaced by Lakshmipathy Balaji, who had just finished his first spell.
Zaheer went off the ground, and was replaced by Harbhajan Singh.
Then he returned, and was soon back bowling. Immediately it was evident that he was not comfortable at all.
His run-up was tentative, and a distinct drag of the left leg could be seen.
It is not unusual for an athlete, especially a fast bowler, to get injured. It is the rapidity with which Zaheer goes down that is alarming. The Australia series had seen him pull out of action, and in Pakistan, he had to be replaced by Ashish Nehra.
Now the big question. Once Zaheer was injured on Sunday, why was he allowed to bowl eight more overs, that too at a stretch?
Also, it is unknown if this is a repetition of the old injury. If yes, then it had obviously not healed enough for him to be back in the team.
If it is a new injury, then it asks questions about the level of his fitness. And what is all this cloak and dagger stuff surrounding information about the injury? It surely is not a state secret, neither should it be.
BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya goes on about transparency and accountability within the organisation, but those two things are almost always missing. Nothing new there, though we were almost beginning to believe that things had changed for the better.
