Zaheer Khan: biography, stats & profile
Zaheer Khan is an Indian bowler. Style: right-handed batter, bowls left-arm fast-medium. Born 7 October 1978 in Shrirampur, Maharashtra.
Batting career stats
| Format | M | Inns | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 92 | 127 | 1230 | 75 | 11.94 | 51.66 | 0 | 3 | 141 | 28 |
| ODI | 200 | 101 | 792 | 34 | 12 | 73.47 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 24 |
| T20I | 17 | 4 | 13 | 9 | 6.5 | 130.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| IPL | 100 | 32 | 117 | 23 | 8.36 | 82.98 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
Bowling career stats
| Format | M | Inns | Wkts | Best | Avg | Econ | SR | 5W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 92 | 165 | 311 | 7/87 | 32.95 | 3.27 | 60.4 | 11 |
| ODI | 200 | 197 | 282 | 5/42 | 29.44 | 4.93 | 35.8 | 1 |
| T20I | 17 | 17 | 17 | 4/19 | 26.35 | 7.64 | 20.71 | 0 |
| IPL | 100 | 99 | 102 | 4/17 | 27.27 | 7.59 | 21.57 | 0 |
Zaheer Khan is an Indian bowler who bowls left-arm fast-medium and bats right-handed. He was born on 7 October 1978 in Shrirampur, Maharashtra. He played domestic cricket for Baroda and Mumbai, and in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils.
He is best known as the leading wicket-taker of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, which India won. He retired from international cricket in October 2015.
Early life and domestic career
Zaheer was born in Shrirampur, in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district. He played local cricket for Revenue Colony Cricket Club and joined the National Cricket Club in Mumbai in 1996.
His first-class career began with Baroda. In the 2000–01 Ranji Trophy final against Railways he took figures of 8/145 and was Man of the Match, as Baroda won the trophy for the first time in 43 years.
He moved to Mumbai at the start of the 2006–07 season and played for them until they won the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal. He also played county cricket for Worcestershire in 2005 and 2006, taking ten wickets against Somerset on his debut for the county.
International career
Zaheer made his ODI debut against Kenya on 3 October 2000 and his Test debut against Bangladesh on 10 November 2000. His T20 International debut came against South Africa on 1 December 2006.
At the 2011 Cricket World Cup he led India’s pace attack and finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets in nine matches. India won the title. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2008, received the Arjuna Award in 2011 and the Padma Shri in 2020.
He announced his retirement from international cricket in October 2015.
IPL
Zaheer played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 and from 2011 to 2013, for Mumbai Indians in 2009, 2010 and 2014, and for Delhi Daredevils from 2015 to 2017.
Career stats at a glance
In Tests, Zaheer took 311 wickets in 92 matches at an average of 32.95, with best figures of 7/87 and 11 five-wicket hauls.
In ODIs he took 282 wickets in 200 matches at 29.44, with best figures of 5/42. In the IPL he took 102 wickets in 100 matches at 27.27, with best figures of 4/17.
Recent form and news
Zaheer was reported to have parted ways with Lucknow Super Giants, where he had been mentor, ahead of IPL 2026. On 4 August 2026 it was reported that an ownership group co-owned by him had acquired the Lanka Premier League franchise Jaffna Kings, to be rebranded as Anchor Jaffna Kings.
Chennai Super Kings have named him their new head coach for the upcoming season, replacing Stephen Fleming.
