Once the domestic season ended Zaheer, in pursuit of his plan to play as much cricket as he could get, found his way back to Worcestershire -- and started off on an amazing season, that saw him capture 78 wickets to make the leader board.
Perhaps no game illustrated the extent of his comeback as the one at Chelmsford, June 15, 2006, when Zaheer took out nine Essex batsmen and was prevented from getting a ten-for only by a dropped catch.
It was an extraordinary effort, and not only because of the number of wickets taken: In that innings, he had bowled 69 deliveries to take his five wickets; when Essex followed on, a bowler who has often been described as lazy, who has been rated as a shirker, bowled 21.3 overs unchanged in a tremendous display of heart and commitment.
By the end of that county season, the transformation was complete: Zaheer had shed his flab and was back to his lean, mean self; his pace was back as was his stock delivery, the outswinger; during all those months of hard work, he had also discovered an ability to bend the ball back in at will and, equally importantly, the savvy to figure out how, and when, to use that new weapon.
In course of day four's play at Trent Bridge on July 30, 2007, former England captain Nasser Hussain, during a stint in the commentary box, spoke of how Zaheer's bowling was confusing the heck out of the England batsmen.
'I was speaking to several of the England players,' Hussain said. 'They told me the thing is, Zaheer keeps bowling the one that goes away, but just when they think they have lined him up and figured out which ones to let go, he brings one back in off the seam on length, and gets them trapped in front. They are finding him confusing, very difficult to figure out.'
Image: Zaheer, playing for Surrey, in action during the Frizzell County Championship Division 1 match against Kent at the Brit Oval, May 26, 2004.
India in the United Kingdom 2007
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