Top five bowling performances by Zaheer Khan

4. 5/72 (Sri Lanka v/s India, Third Test, Brabourne Stadium, December 2009)

Zaheer bowled with fire and purpose in this game as India achieved the No.1 ranking in Test cricket with an innings victory over the luckless Sri Lankans despite a gritty knock from Kumar Sangakkara in the second essay.

The left-arm pacer took out Mahela Jayawardene with a delivery that landed on off and moved away; the resultant edge ended up in Dhoni’s gloves.

He then dismissed Thilan Samaraweera for a duck with the short ball, and then got the big wicket of Sangakkara with a perfect leg-cutter.

With two more lifting deliveries, Zaheer sent back Rangana Herath and Nuwan Kulasekara as Sri Lanka collapsed to 309 all out, losing by an innings and 24 runs – the Srirampur lad achieved yet another fiver in Test cricket.