Zaheer’s on top of his game right now: Akram

And that’s exactly what Wasim Akram, in Delhi to conduct a fast-bowling camp, said on Friday. “He has improved tremendously. He has understood that bowling is not just about pace. He is using his head now,” said the former Pakistan captain.

“Zaheer’s maturity can be seen in his bowling. He can bowl six different deliveries in an over now. He swings the ball both ways and even the yorkers and slower ones are very effective.”

Zaheer picked up nine wickets in five one-dayers here and finished up as one of the leading wicket-takers in the series.

Even in the Test series that preceded the ODIs, he picked up eight wickets on pitches that didn’t really suit the faster men — he was only behind Ajantha Mendis (26 wickets), Muttiah Muralitharan (21) and Harbhajan Singh (16).

The 29-year-old, Akram points out, has started using the crease intelligently. “Of late, he has started coming around the wicket to right-handers. The ball that then angles in is a difficult one for them to play. He is a smart bowler,” says Akram. Zaheer has been on top of his game since the 2007 tour of England. That could well have been a make or break series for him, as he had just returned to the national side in the previous series against Bangladesh.

His 18 wickets in three Tests there helped India to their first Test-series victory in England after 21 years.

“It was a different Zaheer, lean and fit with a changed action. I think his stint with Worcestershire helped him a lot,” says Akram.

But there is an area of concern and, as is the case with most fast bowlers, the threat of injuries always looms around the corner. He didn’t feature in the home series against South Africa in 2008, and then sat out a couple of games in the Indian Premier League.

In fact, before the ODI series in Sri Lanka, he had last played in an one-dayer in November 2007 against Pakistan in Gwalior. “Injuries are part of every bowler’s career. You can’t do much about it,” says Akram.