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Zaheer Khan seems to have fallen from grace. To be really frank, one should have seen it coming; the signs were all there- the languid movements, the insipid bowling, his very steps lacked the usual bounce. His bowling attacks don’t cause as much flutter as they used to. There was a time when the cricketer was the best known left-arm bowler in the Indian cricketing industry. Zaheer Khan Profile was so impressive that he was often the first choice in bowling. He could maneuver the ball both ways.

During the 2001 Ranji trophy series, he took eight wickets and was labeled the ‘Man of the match’. He was just a few months into professional cricket when he achieved the feat. When he was debuting for the Worcestershire County Cricket Club in England during 2006, he managed to single handedly take ten wickets that earned him the record as the first Worcestershire player to ever manage the amazing feat in over a century. During the India-Australia Test series that took place between 2008 and 2009, he surprised everyone with an all-around skillful performance in bowling as well as batting and consequently won the ‘Man of the Match’ award.

He was instrumental in promoting India to the final rounds of the 2003 World Cup, completing the series as the fourth highest wicket taker. His one man bowling attack helped India’s 2011 World Cup campaign tilt in their favor. He is the current record holder for the highest Test score, when he amassed 75 runs against Bangladesh in the year of 2004. There are plenty more records in Zaheer Khan statistics. It is not a wonder that people are highly disappointed that he has put on a less than impressive form these days.

When the team captain was questioned about Zaheer Khan’s dwindling profile, the skipper waived it off as a circumstantial problem. He said that his lethargic performance could be blamed on a number of things ranging from revved up batsmen to his fitness to certain indulgences. Zaheer Khan has in fact been rendered vulnerable by a number of injuries over the past few years. His exclusion from the squad competing in the Nagpur Test series was the cherry on the cake. But all hope is not lost; history has proved time and again that true talent never fades away into oblivion. A fine tuning now and then coupled with a healthy dose of self-esteem should help one get right back up on that horse.

The 4th ODI in the series between England and India is yet to take place In Mohali on the 23rd of January. While England had the upper hand when they won the first match of the series at Rajkot, India made an amazing comeback by beating the rivals at home turf in a landslide of 127 runs.

Following their embarrassing defeat at Kochi, the English were hoping to break even with another win in their favor at Ranchi; but the support and enthusiasm in favor of the Indians at Mahendra Singh Dhon’s native place coupled with India’s desperate need to prove themselves after the disastrous results they reaped in 2012, motivated the Indian cricket team to give the match their best shot. Surprisingly enough, their best shot was exactly what was required for India to claim victory and a lead of 2-1 in the One Day International Series.

With some of the best players retired or on the bench, India had a very few fixtures to look forward to. Ever since their shameful return home from the away test series, Indian captain Dhoni had come under fire and also close to being ‘fired’. Thanks to luck and most probably some officials at the BCCI, Dhoni captured back the captain position which was dangled in front of Virat Kohli in the mean time. Kohli has shown a level of consistency that has pleased both his fans and comrades alike. The 77 runs that he acquired while batting it out during the series at Kochi, earned him the ‘man of the match’ award.

With the heavy weights gone, lesser known cricketers are coming up and taking their places based on their talents. Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are all legends in the making. Of these players, Kumar in particular has been making it extra hard for the English team to acclimate to the whole ongoing ODI situation. During the second ODI at Kochin, he bowled all of his ten overs on a roll to come up with a three wickets for twenty nine runs score. The three wickets that he took was equivalent to destroying the metaphoric pillars of the England team, because it didn’t take long after that for them to collapse. Another notable achievement in Bhuvneshwar Kumar profile will be the tag of the’ first bowler to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar for a duck’. Apart from being a bowler, he is also a middle order batsman.

One could have sliced the tension in the air, with a knife, that day. The crowd waited with abated breath, for the verdict and once the conclusion was reached broke into ear-drum shattering applause. Cheteshwar Pujara had scored a triple hundred, a second in First Class Cricket. The triple hundred is in fact the fifth in Cheteshwar Pujara’s profile. He had previously attained a similar number once at the Under-14 level, twice at the Under-22 level and twice more in the Ranji trophy tournaments.

The amazing feat could not have transpired at a more appropriate time- just days before the upcoming One Day International series against England. The achievement not only secured him a spot in the Indian cricket team, but also will hold his position in good stead prior to facing the Brits at the ODIs. The right handed batsman, who usually takes his own time at the crease, showed he is all serious business when he brought out his aggressive side to slam 352 runs off 527 balls, which is incidentally the highest a Ranji trophy player has ever scored. Previously he was the highest scorer of the Indian team that toured England during the summer of 2010.

Cheteshwar Pujara has always proved that he is not without mettle since his foray into the cricketing franchise. He scored his very first triple century for local side Saurashtra at the National U-14 tournament, when he was just twelve years of age. He has maintained a consistency in his game since then, which is more than what you can say for some of the so called prolific players of Indian cricket team. He made his Under-19 Test debut against the England team in 2005. He helped India to victory by scoring 211 runs. Then came the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, in which he was adjudged the leading run scorer with 349 runs from 6 innings. He scored his first International test century against New Zealand on 23 August 2012. But it was not until his ‘second debut’ that he began to be accepted as a regular in the squad.

He has also played Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders for the first three seasons. After this he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011 but a knee injury rendered him inactive for nearly a year. With Rahul Dravid and V.V.S Laxman out of the picture, India looks to this talented player to fill in the shoe of the next best middle order batsman.