THE WORLD PORTAL

ZAHEER KHAN

India’s left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan really destroyed the Bangladesh batsmen in their second test against India at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. India won the second test by 10 wickets with the help of Zaheer Khan’s 10 wickets haul. This left-arm seamer gained his career-best 7-87 in the second innings of this test. In the first innings Zaheer gained 5 wickets,  and he finished the match with 10-149 to become only the fourth Indian pace man to take 10 or more wickets in an away Test. India won the first test by 113 runs in Chittagong and with this win, India white washed Bangladesh in the two test match series. Zaheer Khan was named as ‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Man of the Series’ for gaining 15 wickets in the two test matches.

BIOGRAPHY

Left arm fast bowler, Zaheer Khan was born on 7th October, 1978 in Shrirampur, Maharashtra, India. He started his cricket career in 2000 as a player of ‘National Cricket Academy’ in Bangalore. His first Test match was against Bangladesh and first ODI match was against Kenya during the ‘ICC KnockOut Trophy’ in 2000. It is very difficult to retain his position in the Indian team, because other fast bowlers like Sreesanth and R. P. Singh were also included in the team at that time. In ‘2003 Cricket World Cup’, Zaheer along with other fast bowlers Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra helped India to reach in the final, where India lost to Australia. He finished that World Cup as 4th highest wicket taker by gaining 18 wickets. He was out from the team in 2003 and 2004 due to injuries. In 2006, he returned in Test and ODI team for the tour of South Africa. He gained his ODI career best 5/42 in 2007, and he was selected for ‘2007 Cricket World Cup’ team with his bowling performance. Zaheer also showed his talent in test matches. He became the third Indian, after Rusi Surti and Kapil Dev, to score a half century and take five wickets in an innings of a test match against Australia in 2008. In addition, he won the ‘Man of the Match’ award in the first test between India and Australia in 2008-2009 season. After that, he became the strike-bowler and a permanent player in the Indian team. He is also a right handed batsmen in Indian team.  He is the holder of the world record for the highest Test score by a number 11, when he gained 75 runs for India against Bangladesh in 2004. His partnership with Sachin Tendulkar which produced 133 runs is an Indian-record for the tenth-wicket. He is played for domestic teams Baroda, Surrey, Worcestershire and Mumbai. In addition, he is played for IPL teams Bangalore Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians.

CAREER STATISTICS

Competition                  Test                  ODIs               FC                    List A
Matches                        70                     168               133                    223
Runs scored                934                     719              1,937                 958
Batting average           13.53                 13.07             14.45                 12.94
100s/50s                     0/3                     0/0                0/4                     0/0
Top score                    75                      34*                75                     42
Balls bowled              13,826                 8,577         27,068                11,165
Wickets                      233                     235               544                   310
Bowling average        33.84                 29.93           27.82                   29.31
5 wickets in innings     9                       42               9/138                   5/42
10 wickets in match     1                      n/a                  7                     n/a
Best bowling             7-87                   5/42             9/138                 5/42
Catches/stumpings     18/–                  35/–                 42/–                 49/–

VIRAT KOHLI

Right-handed batsman Virat Kohli is the new hero of the Indian cricket. With the help of his century, India gained a victory over Bangladesh in ongoing tri-series. Kohli gained unbeaten 102 runs from just 95 balls, and it was his second ODI century in his cricket career. He scored two fifties in the previous two matches of this tri-series. Kohli is a powerful middle order batsman, and he is best known for his shots through the cover region. In addition, he is also a right arm medium pace bowler of the Indian cricket team.

BIOGRAPHY

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli was born on 5th November, 1988 in Bangalore, India as the son of P.N.Kohli. He learned cricket lessons from ‘West Delhi Cricket Academy’. He is come to know in the cricket world, when he gained 90 runs within hours of his father’s death to save Delhi from certain follow-on in a Ranji Trophy game against Karnataka. In addition, he was the captain of the victorious Indian team at the ‘2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup’ held in Malaysia. In that ‘Under-19 World Cup’, he gained 235 runs including a century from 74 balls against West Indies, and he was the third best run scorer in that tournament. In ‘2008 Emerging Players Tournament’ in Australia, Kohli was the leading run scorer with 398 runs from seven matches including two centuries and two fifties. After this performance, he was selected in the ODI squad for India’s tour of Sri Lanka and his first ODI match was against Sri Lanka in the ‘Idea Cup’ in 2008. With the help of his performances, India won their first one day series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. In 2009, Kohli gained his debut ODI century against Sri Lanka in ODI series in Sri Lanka. In ‘2010 Idea Cup’ tri-series, Kohli gained 91 runs against Bangladesh, unbeaten 71 runs against Sri Lanka and his second ODI century against Bangladesh. With this brilliant century, he became the third Indian, who scored two ODI centuries before the age of 22. He is also the player of ‘Royal Challengers Bangalore’ Indian Premier League team. He played for this team in 2008 and 2009 IPL seasons. The 2008 IPL season was not good for him. He gained only 165 runs in that season, but in the 2009 season, he was improved his performance by gaining 215 runs.