Just like we did the best performances in ODI Cricket for VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid today is the turn of another one of the all time greats and this time we will focus on ODIs because this bowler has got their flowers in test cricket and we have covered most of his best performances in test cricket in another article. I am talking about none other than Zaheer Khan who has been one of the best fast bowlers and certainly the best left arm fast bowler ever for India. We will look at his ODI records below.
Zaheer Khan played 200 ODIs for India and in these matches he took a total of 282 ODI Wickets and he did it at an average of 29.44. He has taken 8 Four Wicket Hauls and 1 Five wicket haul in his ODI career. He was the best Bowler in the 2011 World Cup with 21 wickets. Zaheer Khan has left a void in the team which has not been filled till now and now the young Arshdeep Singh is looking to do great things for India.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Best Performances of Zaheer Khan in ODI cricket
4/42 vs Zimbabwe (2000)
This was the first 4 wicket haul for Zaheer Khan and it came against the best Zimbabwe team of all time and a team that had match winners. In the first innings Zaheer never allowed the batters to get in any kind of rhythm as he kept taking wickets at regular intervals and he bowled his 10 overs and only gave away 42 runs and took 4 wickets. And India won this match by 3 wickets and it was mostly due to his great performance.
Also Read | Top 5 Best Performances of Gautam Gambhir in ODI Cricket
3/48 vs Kenya (2000)
This was the first great bowling performance by Zaheer Khan and it came against Kenya in 2000 and it looked like his debut year would be incredible. Zaheer Khan in his debut match tolm 3 important wickets in the Kenya Innings and in the 10 overs he gave Away 48 runs and as a result Kenya could only make 206 and India won this match easily by 8 wickets. It was the perfect debut for Zaheer.
Also Read | Top 5 Best innings of Sourav Ganguly in ODI Cricket
3/62 vs England (2002)
This is one of the most famous ODI matches of all time and Zaheer Khan had an important role to play in the win for team India. England battery first and they were going great but Zaheer took 3 important Wickets and although he gave away 62 runs , the 3 wickets that he got were very important in the win for India and he was praised for his performance.
Also Read | Top 5 Best innings of Rahul Dravid in ODI Cricket
4/42 vs New Zealand (2003)
This was an important match in the 2003 World Cup and Zaheer Khan again stepped up for India when the team needed him as In this match New Zealand batted first and from the first ball Zaheer Khan was on the attack as he kept taking wickets at regular intervals and in the 8 overs that he bowled in this match he gave away 42 runs and got 4 of the most important wickets and India chased down 147 with ease and they won by 7 wickets.
Also Read | Top 5 Best bowling performances of Sreesanth
5/42 vs Sri Lanka (2007)
It looks like Zaheer Khan liked giving away only 41 runs and then he would get a lot of wickets. In this match vs Sri Lanka he gave his best ODI performance and Sri Lanka was batting first in this match and he picked up wickets all throughout the innings and this meant that Sri Lanka were never allowed to step up the momentum. Zaheer Khan was the only bowler who looked like picking Wickets that day as in his 10 overs he got his 5 wicket haul and India had to chase 231 to win which they did with 5 wickets to spare
Also Read: Top 5 Best Zaheer Khan bowling performances
