Zaheer Khan by far has been the best Indian bowler ever since Javagal Srinath called it a day and he has been carrying the Indian attack for almost a decade. His performance over the years speaks volumes of his wicket taking ability, not to forget his contribution in the 2011 World Cup when everytime India were looking for a break-through Zaheer came up with the goods, sometimes with a yorker and sometimes with the slower ball.

But such is sports where a bad phase is just round the corner as Zaheer lost his place to the young upcoming bowlers of the country and is fighting to make a comeback. More importantly the hunger to play for the country is still there which is why he is spending so much time in training to become as fit as possible.

Zaheer offlate has spend a lot of time in France and right now is in South Africa trying to regain full fitness and also seems to have lost a lot of weight, compromises one need to make as an athlete.

But the question with Zaheer is now how fit he is as an individual but how much match fit he is as both are different ball games altogether. Zaheer is a fast bowler and needs to bowl as much as possible to become match fit and get his rhythm back to be a force to reckon with.

Playing Test match cricket is hardwork where a bowler has to bowl long spells and that comes from being match fit. At the end of the day the team does not want a scenario where in he comes into a Test match and breaks down in the first session as was the case in England. So it is very important for him to have overs under his belt just like a batsman needs runs under his belt.

Zaheer is a quality operator and if he gets back his rhythm then India's chances of winning a Test match abraod goes up by 200 percent because bowlers win you Test matches as you need pick up twenty wickets.