Zaheer comes out of left field to give India cutting edge

It is wholly apposite, in the week when India celebrates 60 years of independence that one of the country's cricketers should emerge as the hero of the three-match Test series against England.

Zaheer Khan has been head and shoulders above the bowlers on both sides with his consistency and accuracy. It is no surprise he is the leading wicket-taker with 18.

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The 28-year-old left-arm pace bowler's ability to move the ball both ways off the pitch and to swing the new and old ball have made him a potent force in the Indian armoury.

But while he is India's hero, Zaheer's own inspirational figure, however, is far more controversial – Wasim Akram, who took 414 Test wickets for India's great rivals and neighbours Pakistan.

Throughout the series Zaheer has bothered the England batsmen, especially when he bowls around the wicket angling the ball into the right-handers and swinging it away, it is not something they come across too often, a left arm bowler with that amount of skill and pace, indeed Wasim Akram is probably the last such example to have been seen on the county circuit when he was with Lancashire.

The right-handed Ian Bell has been out to Zaheer on four occasions this summer, but the Warwickshire batsman is not alone in finding Zaheer an awkward customer. Left-handed batsmen have also suffered at Zaheer's hands, most notably the troubled England opener Andrew Strauss, who has succumbed to him four times in this series.

Zaheer's ability to change his angles, reverse swing the old ball and generally hustle and bustle and fluster the batsmen is rapidly turning him into a Test bowler to be feared.

He is regarded by many Indian pundits as being in the mould of the traditional Pakistani pace bowlers, courtesy not just of his ability but also through his powerful physique. His admiration of Wasim Akram reinforces that impression.

Injury interrupted Zaheer's career just as he was beginning to blossom at Test level and when he returned following a hamstring problem he had lost some of his pace.

His attitude was also questioned, but last season he joined Worcestershire and his return of 78 wickets in the Championship earned him a recall for his country's tour of South Africa.

Zaheer has formed a complementary partnership with Sree Sreesanth and produced a match-winning performance in the second Test at Trent Bridge with a match haul of 9 for 134.

And while his second innings here proved wicketless, he still proved difficult to score off, finishing with an economy rate of three runs per over.

l The England and Wales Cricket Board is expected to announce the result of its election of the new chairman today. It was a two-horse race between former Surrey chairman and ECB vice chairman, Mike Soper, and Giles Clarke, the Somerset chairman. According to insiders it has been a close-run affair. Both candidates have lobbied the chairmen of the first-class counties and the chairman of the MCC. Soper was the favourite when the nominations were announced a fortnight ago, but since then Clarke, a millionaire businessman, has made up a lot of lost ground.