England Test captain Michael Vaughan lavished praise on Zaheer Khan,
saying the Indian pace spearhead's out of the box ideas particularly made the
going tough for the hosts and was "something we can all learn from".
"India, and Zaheer Khan in particular, deserve a lot of credit for the angles
they created and the variety of their bowling," said Vaughan, who still hit
a classy century in the second Test at Trent Bridge.
"On the last day at The Oval, Zaheer was still swinging
the ball both ways. Using the traditional method he should have been bowling
over the wicket, but he came around to the left-handers. He was changing the
angles again. The guys would not have seen that before and I guarantee they
would not have practised that.
"Zaheer - and I think he was the man coming up with all
the ideas - kept doing the unexpected. It was fascinating to watch and something
we can all learn from. That's why the series was hard," the England skipper
was quoted as saying by 'The Observer' today.
The England skipper, who is spared the hullabaloo of the one-day
international, rated Zaheer above the likes of Sri Lankan paceman Chaminda
Vaas and former Pakistani tearaway Wasim Akram for the way he swung
the ball.
"We never really knew what was coming next. I can't remember
so much swing, not even from Chaminda Vaas or Wasim Akram. Sometimes when RP
Singh was bowling around the wicket it felt as if the ball was starting at third
slip," he added.
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