06 June,2009 01:37 PM IST | | Debasish Datta
Zaheer Khan has a special connection with Nottingham, the Robinhood City. After all, at the same venue two years ago, his magical spell, inspired by the jelly beans incident, gave India an all-important Test win.
So, as the rest of his teammates were stuck in the traffic on the highway en route from London, the India pace spearhead, recovering from a shoulder injury that he suffered during the Indian Premier League, was at the Trent Bridge along with coach Gary Kirsten.
Zaheer bowled for 40 minutes under the supervision of Kirsten, and a guest at the nets u00e2u0080u0093 Joshua, Kirsten's son.
While the left-armer appeared to be slowly getting back into groove, he was tentative to begin with and was constantly asking Kirsten: "How am I bowling?"
The coach, like a true mentor, constantly encouraged him with chants of: "Well bowled, Zaheer."
It is learnt that even if Zaheer proves his fitness today, ahead of India's World Twenty20 opener against Bangladesh tomorrow, the Indian team management is likely to rest him for the opening tie.
Zaheer, whose injury details have been kept under the wraps by the BCCI, is expected to be fully match-fit for India's second game against Ireland on Wednesday.
