Zaheer good enough for a comemack : Sekar

Vadodara, Jun 7 (UNI) MRF Pace Foundation chief coach and former pacer T A Sekar is very much confident of discarded paceman Zaheer Khan making a comeback to team India soon.

The Indian seamer, who is currently playing for English county side - Worcestershire in London, had performed well and could be recalled in the Indian squad for the forthcoming series, Mr Sekar told UNI here today.

Claiming that Zaheer was still in contention, Mr Sekar who coached Indian pacemen including Zaheer, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, R P Singh and S Sreesanth at the MRF Pace Foundation, said the county matches had helped Zaheer gain a lot of confidence and he was confident that the speedster could perform better for India.

The Baroda left-arm seamer, who was dropped from the nationa l squad following his loss of form during the Pak tour early this year, had left for England in April having signed up to play for Worcestershire team for the entire season.

Asked about India's main strike bowler Irfan Pathan, who is also struggling to get back to his form in the on-going series in the Caribreans, Mr Sekar maestro said, ''Irfan is one of the best cricketers India has ever produced. He is young as well as intelligent and has proved his bowling and batting prowess in the last two years of his international cricketing career.'' ''Every cricketer goes through a bad time or patch during his areer and Irfan will certainly come out of it soon, he said'' Mr Sekar, who is conducting a five-day pace bowlers' training camp here organised by the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) for its under-15, 17, 19, 22 and Ranji trophy players, said it was a great experience to lead the MRF Pace Foundation for the last 19 years and train the young talents.

''I get most satisfaction when players I coached play for the country and win matches outstanding performance,'' he said.

Expressing concern over frequent fitness problems with the Indian cricketers, the veteran coach said his pace foundation was trying to give a good foundation of bowling techniques to the players with a view to prevent injuries as well as help them perform better. He appreciated Australia for having done a lot of research work in this area and gainning success.

Mr Sekar said a few of the 35 boys attending the training camp here were really good and had the potential to play top class cricket provided they get proper training.

Stressing on the need for scientific training of the young pace talents of Baroda, BCA secretary Kiran More said the association decided to rope in T A Sekhar and trainer Ramji for the special training camp to correct and sharpen the young boys' bowling techniques.

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