Zaheer Khan honoured with life-time membership from MCC

Former pace bowler Zaheer Khan has been bestowed with an honorary life membership from Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The 37-year old becomes the 24^th Indian cricketer to be inducted into the historic organization which is based at Lord’s, London. In a statement, the club affirmed, “MCC has elected Zaheer Khan as an Honorary Life Member of the Club.”

One of the best ever seamers produced by India, the left-armer represented his country in 92 Tests and picked up 311 wickets at an average of 32.94 with 11 five-wicket hauls and 1 ten-wicket haul. Renowned for his ability to shape matches with numerous decisive spells, Zaheer played a pivotal part in India’s rise to the number one Test ranking from November 2009 to August 2011.

He participated 8 Tests in England and took 31 wickets at an average of 27.96 with his 9-134 setting up a memorable victory at Trent Bridge in 2007 and the consequent 1-0 series victory for his team. Also a reliable ODI bowler, Zaheer was the joint leading wicket-taker in India’s World Cup victory in 2011. From 200 50-overs contests, he took 282 wickets at an average of 29.43 and economy of 4.93.

For his services to Indian cricket, he has been awarded the Arjuna Award by the government. In October 2015, the Maharashtrian rode into the sunset after announcing his retirement from all internationals.

John Stephenson, MCC Head of Cricket, said, “Zaheer Khan was a fantastic servant to cricket in India and an integral part of their very successful side for many years. For this reason, the Club is very pleased to award him with Honorary Life Membership. He was always great to watch when he played at Lord’s and we look forward to having him back here as an MCC Member.”

According to MCC’s official website, “Honorary Life Membership is awarded by the MCC Committee to individuals in recognition of the service they have given to the cricket and projects surrounding the game, often over a very long period.“

Complete List of Indian members in MCC

N.J. Contractor (1969)A.L. Wadekar (1978)C.G. Borde (1981)F.M. Engineer (1981)R.G. Nadkarni (1981)B.S. Bedi (1982)B.S. Chandrasekhar (1982)E.A.S. Prasanna (1984)S. Venkataraghavan (1988)G.R. Viswanath (1990)M. Amarnath (1993)S.M. Gavaskar (1993)D.B. Vengsarkar (1993)Kapil Dev (1995)S.M.H. Kirmani (1995)R.J. Shastri (1995)K.S. More (1999)R. Dravid (2008)A. Kumble (2008)S.R. Tendulkar (2010)S.C. Ganguly (2015)Miss A. Chopra (2016)V. Sehwag (2016)Z. Khan (2016)