‘Zaheer Khan is better than James Anderson’ – Star India bowler’s shocking take on best bowler debate
Zaheer Khan (left) and James Anderson (right) (Source: Twitter)
Star England pacer, James Anderson is considered one of the greatest players of all time. He recently surpassed India’s veteran off-spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin to become the World No. 1 bowler in the longest format of the game. By achieving this at the age of 40 years and 6 months, he became the fifth oldest bowler to gain the top spot. With 686 wickets in his brilliant career, the third most in Test history, Anderson has continued to be one of the real ambassadors of Test cricket.
Even though Anderson is a crucial member of England‘s Test side as he seeks to become the first bowler to record 700 or more wickets, a former Indian seamer has raised questions about the 40-year-old’s career. Before making the bold claim that Anderson should be compared to Indian great Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma told YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia on “The Ranveer Show” that Anderson’s career wouldn’t have been the same if he had been from India.
It was just frustration because Brendon McCullum was scoring a lot of runs: Ishant Sharma
Ishant highlighted that Anderson practices and bowls in a totally different condition than an Indian bowler when asked if he has ever spoken with Anderson about his bowling and ageing. “Jimmy Anderson’s bowling style and method are quite different. He plays in different conditions in England. Maybe if he played in India…,” Ishant then stopped. The anchor smiled and said, “…maybe he wouldn’t have found that kind of success.”
2014 marked Zaheer’s final game for India. Before Ishant equalled it in his final appearance for India, over his 14-year Test career, he had taken 311 wickets for India, the most by an Indian fast bowler in the format. Speaking about the experienced fast bowler Zaheer, Ishant addressed the 2014 Wellington Test incident in which he was seen arguing with him.
“I had told that to myself. To this day, people don’t understand to whom I said that. I have never abused anyone who has dropped a catch. How can say that to Zak? He is literally like guru for me. I have never even thought about saying anything like that. It was just frustration because Brendon McCullum was scoring a lot of runs. There were only three fast bowlers – me, Zak and [Mohammed] Shami. After almost every four overs, we had to bowl again and the wicket was very flat. I was just removing the frustration on myself,” he said.
