Zaheer Khan Reacts After Being Conferred With Padma Shri For His Contribution To Indian Cricket

Zaheer Khan has been one of the greatest assets of Indian cricket. The former fast bowler, without a doubt, made a significant contribution to the Indian cricket team. He ended his cricketing career as one of the greatest new-ball bowlers of all time, especially to left-handers.

In his playing days, Zaheer mastered the art of reverse-swing, a unique trait that sets him apart from most other bowlers. He brought the best out of himself even with the old white ball. Zaheer was a substantial bowler of the Indian team across formats throughout his career.

The 41-year-old has taken a record 610 wickets (311 in Tests, 282 in ODIs and 17 in T20Is) in international cricket and 102 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was also an integral part of the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian side under astute leadership traits of MS Dhoni.

He hit the peak performance in the showpiece event when he was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with as many as 21 wickets to his name in nine games and was also the leading wicket-taker for India.

Zaheer Khan conferred with India’s fourth-highest civilian honour – Padma Shri:

The former Indian bowling great was conferred with prestigious Padma Shri on Saturday. After receiving the coveted award, an elated Zaheer added that he was grateful to have lived his dream of playing for India.

To honour his phenomenal contributions to Indian cricket, he was conferred with the Padma Shri which is the country’s fourth-highest civilian honour.

“Humbled and overwhelmed to become a recipient of one of the country’s highest civilian awards, especially since there have been such inspirational people before,” said Zaheer Khan wrote on Twitter.

“I am grateful that I got to live my dream of playing cricket for the country, and when representing this great nation, it allowed me to go out there and express myself, putting to use all the skills amassed and each time I wore the India jersey, it was a matter of pride, privilege and like all my teammates, I gave my all and tried my level best, he continued.

Each victory will forever be etched in my memory and contributing to it special moments for me that continue to motivate me to now give back. All the knowledge, experience being passed on.. thank you, everyone,” he added.

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