Statistical Comparison between Zaheer Khan and other great left-arm seamers

Where does Zaheer Khan stand among all the great left-arm seamers of the world?

Perhaps nothing in cricket looks as good as a left-arm seamer at his best. The very mention of a left arm seamer coming up to bowl was enough to make the batsmen feel uncomfortable. They were used to playing against bowlers who routinely brought the ball in and occasionally swung it away from them. It paid to have a closed stance, which could counter the swinging ball.

But when a left-arm bowler bowls from over the wicket, a similar stance leaves the batsman in all sorts of a tangle as the point of delivery becomes a blind spot. This meant that the batsmen had to open their stance up a little, which could only help them see the ball better, but not play the bowler. They still had to keep their eye on the seam to gauge the swing, which became difficult if they changed their stance even a little bit.

Zaheer, Wasim and Vaas : A cut above the rest

India’s best ever left arm seamer, Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket on October 15, 2015. That jump before the delivery, the easy action and those deadly yorkers were what made Zaheer so valuable in his early years. A season in Worcestershire helped him add swing to his repertoire, as he played his part in helpful overseas conditions. Injuries hampered his career, but once again, he added reverse swing to his many talents, which made him a threat with the old ball as well. He played defining roles at Nottingham, Durban and Bangalore as India achieved rare victories.

Zaheer wasn’t limited to tests either. He was thrust on to the ODI team in the late nineties, and immediately impressed with a hostile spell against Australia. He was then India’s highest wicket taker in the 2003 World Cup, thought he leaked runs in the final. Once again, India had a disappointing World Cup in 2007, but Zaheer ended up with the most wickets again. Perhaps he had a feeling that 2011 would be his last chance, as he pulled out all the stops and helped India to their first World Cup in 28 years, picking up 22 wickets and becoming the only man to be the highest wicket-taker for his country in three consecutive world cups.

While Zaheer was certainly the best in India, how does he fare among other left-arm counterparts? Are his numbers enough to make him one of the all-time greats? Where does he rank among legends like Akram, Vaas and Davidson? Let’s find out.

Overall Career Numbers

In Tests

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	BBI	5WI/10WM
Zaheer Khan	92	311	32.94	7/87	11/1
Wasim Akram	104	414	23.62	7/119	25/5
Chaminda Vaas	111	355	29.58	7/71	12/2
Gary Gilmour	15	54	26.03	6/85	3/0
Alan Davidson	44	186	20.53	7/93	14/2
Mitchell Johnson	71	306	27.94	8/61	12/3

Zaheer has done well for himself, compared to other greats. He’s picked up 311 wickets in 92 matches, nowhere near Wasim Akram’s 414 in 104, but certainly on par with Chaminda Vaas’ 355 in 111. Gary Gilmour only had a brief career in bowling, as he was hampered by a foot injury and excessive weight gain. But he was still one of the best bowlers in the 70s, as he picked up three five-wicket hauls in 15 games. He topped the bowling averages with 20.3 in five tests against the West Indies, and his overall average only went twice above 25.00. Mitchell Johnson is the best left-arm seamer at present, as he will catch up with Zaheer in his next series with only 5 wickets separating them.

Alan Davidson was perhaps the first ever great left-arm seamer, as he destroyed batting line-ups in his times. Though he only played 44 matches, he has taken 12 five-wicket hauls and two ten wicket-hauls, easily more than Zaheer’s 11-1, despite Zaheer playing more than twice the amount of matches. Wasim Akram leads the list of most five-fers, as he has almost double the number of his nearest competitor. Zaheer has an excellent percentage of five-fers away from home though, with 8 of his 11 coming outside India – or 72.7%. Wasim Akram comes second, with 17 of his 25 wickets coming outside of Pakistan – or 68%.

Alan Davidson – the first great left-arm seamer

The place where Zaheer is found lacking is in his bowling average. He is the only bowler among them to have an average of over 30.00. Alan Davidson is easily the best, with 20.53. What is even more remarkable in that was that Davidson had an average of 37.53 after 10 matches, and he still managed to bring it down to 20.53. Wasim Akram’s stats also show a terrific story, as his average has never gone beyond 30.00 after his debut test. His worst ever average (apart from his first match) was just 28.81, numbers any bowler would be envious of. Zaheer’s best ever career average was only 31.54 (after his debut), which shows that he did not possess the same amount of cutting edge that the others did.

In ODIs

Player	Winning Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	4WI/5WI
Zaheer Khan	200	282	29.43	4.93	7/1
Wasim Akram	356	502	23.52	3.89	17/6
Chaminda Vaas	322	400	27.53	4.18	9/4
Gary Gilmour	5	16	10.31	3.09	0/2
Mitchell Johnson	153	239	25.26	4.83	9/3

Once again, it is the maestro Wasim Akram who leads the way, with 502 wickets in 356 matches. Zaheer is third on the list behind Chaminda Vaas who has 400 in 322 matches. Zaheer has done as well as Vaas though – he has picked up 282 wickets in 200 matches, or 1.41 wickets per match opposed to Vaas’ 1.24 per match. His average is also on par with him. Zaheer’s economy has always been on the high side, mainly due to his tendency to focus more on swinging the ball than bowling stump to stump. As a result, he leaked more runs than he would have liked. But bowling straight was never Zaheer’s style, and if he had, India would have been the poorer for it.

Zaheer took only two four-wicket hauls in his first 115 matches, but then took five more in the next 85. His best figures came against Sri Lanka at Margao, where dismissed Tharanga, Jayasuriya and Sangakkara for single digits and then came back to mop up the tail. All of his competitors have taken more than one five-fer in ODIs, with Gary Gilmour taking two in just the five games he played. Not counting Gilmour, it is Johnson who has the highest wicket-to-match ratio, with 1.56 despite playing 153 matches. Johnson’s ODI economy rate is as high as Zaheer’s but he has delivered when his team has needed him to.

Mitchell Johnson has the best wickets-to-matches ratio

While Zaheer’s economy has been found too high, it must be noted that Wasim Akram and Chaminda Vaas did not play much in the post-T20 World Cup era. In their times, scores of 250 were considered par, and the grounds and the pitches were tailored for that. As time went on however, 300 became the new 250, and bowlers started to get for much more runs. In such testing conditions, an economy of 4.93 is actually very commendable, and it stands as a testament to how good Zaheer has been.

In Victories

The mark of any good bowler is a consistent contribution in team victories. Though a bowler might bowl his heart out on the pitch, he can never be satisfied until he leads him team to triumph. Legends are made when they single-handedly take the mantle and make sure their team crosses the lines. Let’s take a look at each bowler’s figures when their team wins:

In Tests

Player	Winning Matches	Wickets	Average	BBI	5WI/10WM
Zaheer Khan	38	149	25.77	7/87	5/1
Wasim Akram	41	211	18.48	7/119	13/2
Chaminda Vaas	43	166	22.63	7/71	7/2
Gary Gilmour	9	33	21.42	5/34	2/0
Alan Davidson	16	89	16.04	6/53	6/0
Mitchell Johnson	38	194	21.33	7/40	9/2

When it comes to matches where India has won, Zaheer is a different bowler. His bowling average has reduced drastically, which puts him at par with most of his competitors. He has also taken almost 4 wickets per match, which is only outmatched by Akram and Johnson among those with 100 wickets or more. Davidson is once again legendary when it comes to the bowling averages, taking a wicket for every 16 runs in matches that Australia have won. Mitchell Johnson has played the same amount of matches as Zaheer, but has outstripped him in the wickets column, lending more weight as the best current left-arm seamer around.

Zaheer’s best average is 17.75 in three matches against the West Indies, followed by 20.95 in four matches against England. Wasim Akram on the other hand maintains an average of less than 20 against all teams except India and England, which is mind-boggling. Chaminda Vaas also has his share of sub-20 averages, but it shoots to 53.16 in 4 matches against India. Once again Alan Davidson proves his worth as he has only one average of above 20.00 among 5 opposition teams.

A quirky fact is that among these players, only Vaas has succeeded in taking a five-fer in West Indies and gone on to win the match. It is also worth noting that Zaheer averages less in away victories than victories at home. Only Alan Davidson shares this particular feat with Zaheer, as all the others average more at home. Zaheer, Akram and Vaas are also the only bowlers to take more five-fers away than at home. Mitchell Johnson is the only bowler to take more than one 10WM away from home in a victory.

In ODIs

Player	Winning Matches	Wickets	Average	BBI	4WI/5WI
Zaheer Khan	117	194	23.75	5/42	6/1
Wasim Akram	199	326	18.86	5/15	12/6
Chaminda Vaas	168	228	22.16	8/19	6/3
Gary Gilmour	4	11	10.63	6/14	0/1
Mitchell Johnson	99	187	19.82	6/31	7/3

Once again, Zaheer’s average falls down to 23.75 in wins, which shows how big an asset he has been to the Indian team. His record is far behind Akram’s, who has taken more wickets than him, but both bowlers have taken wickets at 1.6 per match, which shows that Zaheer is on par with him. Vaas has taken 34 more wickets, but in 51 more matches, but that was mostly due to him slowing down the pace in his later years. Vaas’ average is still excellent taking into account the number of matches he has played. Gary Gilmour has won four ODIs with only 1 five-fer, so he cannot be taken into account.

Mitchell Johnson again, is fast catching up to Zaheer Khan, almost eclipsing his wickets tally in lesser number of matches. But with newer and faster bowlers stepping up for Australia, it must be seen whether Johnson will be given regular chances in the side. Johnson’s average is also very good, particularly in the age where bat rules over ball, and a sub-20 average speaks a lot about his talent. Among bowling economies, Zaheer has the highest among the lot, but not by much, as it is just 4.61. Mitchell Johnson possesses the best strike rate among them, taking a wicket every 27 balls.

Against the major test playing nations, it is in South Africa that Zaheer has his best average – 15.87 in 11 matches at an economy of just 3.91. Zaheer also has the second best average in Africa, just behind Chaminda Vaas on decimal points. While Wasim Akram and Mitchell Johnson might have outbowled him in Asia, Zaheer reigns in Africa. Zaheer and Wasim also share a curious record. Excluding Gilmour, they are the only two bowlers who have taken the most wickets in a victory in a country other than home. Zaheer has taken the most wickets in Sri Lanka, while Wasim has the most in UAE, while all the others have picked up most of their wickets at home. This proves again that Zaheer was dependable not only at home, but also outside of it.

In The World Cup

Player	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy	4WI/5WI
Zaheer Khan	23	44	20.22	4.47	1/0
Wasim Akram	38	55	23.83	4.04	2/1
Chaminda Vaas	31	49	21.22	3.97	1/1
Gary Gilmour	2	11	5.63	2.58	0/2
Mitchell Johnson	15	25	22.28	4.60	3/0

Zaheer Khan has been India’s best bowler in the World Cup, and his records hardly need describing. 5th in the all time tally, Zaheer has picked up 44 wickets in 23 matches at 20.22. It is clear that his average is the best, with the exception of Gilmour who has only played 2 matches. His economy rate has been on the high side, but taking into account that the 2011 World Cup was an extremely high scoring affair, it is still terrific. Zaheer has also picked up two or more wickets against every team except South Africa, which only Wasim has also done, though the team he failed against was Bangladesh.

The three World Cups gave us three different shades of Zaheer Khan

Zaheer ended up as India’s highest wicket-taker in three consecutive World Cups, a feat nobody has ever done. The World Cup has always been a special tournament for Zaheer, and he has consistently proved why. Vaas has been destructive in his own way, taking four wickets in the opening over of a match against Bangladesh. Zaheer also boasts a sub-20 bowling average against a staggering 8 teams, with Vaas coming second at 7 teams. Johnson is still relatively new to the World Cup, having sat out the entire tournament in 2007. With his selection for the next one in 2019 not looking likely, he will hope to play when the time comes.

Gary Gilmour’s World Cup career is fascinating to say the least. Though he only played two matches, he picked up a five-fer in both, winning one and losing the other. Both matches were as important as they come – the semi-final and the final in 1975. In the semi-final against England, he blew them away for 93, taking 6-14. But his 5-48 did not stop West Indies from picking up the cup. Though Gilmour only played two matches, his ability to keep his calm and bowl well in major matches is why he is considered a legend. Zaheer, who leaked runs in the 2003 – and to an extent – in the 2011 final, would have considered him a good role model.

Final Say

It is true that Zaheer has never been as prolific as Wasim Akram, or as miserly as Chaminda Vaas or as deadly as Alan Davidson. But Zaheer’s very presence has inspired team India to many a famous victory, both home and away. Whether it is his searing yorkers against Zimbabwe or his pace and swing bowling in New Zealand, Zaheer has always turned up when India has needed him. That is all a team needs of a bowler – consistency. And Zaheer has been very consistent. 311 wickets in 92 matches do not do justice to Zaheer’s three-part career, which saw many absences due to injury. A leaner and fitter version came back in 2006 and led India to victory in Johannesburg and later in Nottingham, while a wilier version helped them down Australia at home in 2008.

After the retirement of Akram, Zaheer competed against Vaas for the title of the best left arm bowler around, and while he never reached the Sri Lankans heights, a healthier body might well have helped him do so. Zaheer lost his ability to bowl inch-perfect yorkers later in his career, but added reverse swing to his many talents, and later a useful knuckle ball which many batsmen had trouble picking. Zaheer was also a menace to the left-handed batsmen, placing third on the list of bowlers to have dismissed most southpaws, behind Akram and Murali. Adding to Graeme Smith, greats like Matthew Hayden, Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya have also fell prey more than 10 times, which underlines his talent.

In the World Cup, Zaheer was close to unstoppable. Leading the wicket charts for India, Zaheer also has the second-best strike rate of the tournament (minimum 1000 balls bowled), just behind Lasith Malinga. He was nearly perfect in the 2003 World Cup, failing only in the final. He put that to rest in the 2011 edition, picking up 22 wickets and leading India to a memorable win in the final. A fitter body might have improved Zaheer’s numbers quite a bit, but it takes nothing away from his performances.

Zaheer Khan is truly India’s best bowler in the last decade and a half, and he will go down as one of cricket’s all-time legendary left arm bowlers alongside Wasim Akram, Chaminda Vaas, Alan Davidson and the likes.