Popular left arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan has said that he was “amazed” when he saw two franchises, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians taking interest in purchasing him at the IPL auction held in Bangalore on Monday.
The 36-year-old was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for a sum of 4 crores. Zaheer Khan had a base price of Rs.1 crore. Zaheer Khan also showed concern and said he was skeptical as to whether anybody would look to buy him at the auction.
He said, “It was amazing that two teams showed such faith in me. Frankly, I was a bit concerned about how people would look at me, as I was completely out of the game for a long time. It [being picked] is an added responsibility on me.”
Zaheer admitted that he had an intuition that Mumbai Indians will try hard get him at the auction, as the team management had been in touch with him throughout the period when he was recovering from injury.
He said, “Obviously I was a part of Mumbai Indians, and I have been in touch with their management during my injury. They knew my status, and they really wanted me to be there. Surely it wasn’t a surprise that they went for me.”
He also made it clear that he is still a few weeks away from bowling long spells in competitive matches. He explained, “I just basically want to start playing again. Things are looking good, and hopefully they will stay that way. [Playing the longer format] was still seven-eight weeks away. [But] I knew I could bowl four overs, and contribute in other ways in an IPL team by helping out younger bowlers. I don’t want my last memory to be one of walking off the field injured”.
Expressing his hearty feeling that more than the fees, he is really delighted at reuniting with former national coach Gary Kirsten at the Delhi set-up. A jubilant Zaheer Khan narrated, “Gary has seen me for a long time, and so has Mr. Sekhar. It will be great to work with them”.
The member of 2011 World Cup team admitted that during his injury period he felt frustrated at missing out on the world cup.
He honestly stated, “Injuries do bring something. I started this new venture called ProSport which is mainly an injuries and rehabilitation centre. This injury was very different. I was aiming to play CLT20, but I got injured in May. It was very frustrating to be injured with the World Cup around the corner. I was hoping to do the right things, but my body was not responding. You got to listen to your body. If you are not ready, you are not ready”.