Rahul Dravid : Glad to see Zaheer Khan back at Delhi Daredevils

In April 2005, it was Rahul Dravid, the stand-in captain in the absence of Sourav Ganguly, who had a go at Zaheer Khan for his dwindling prowess as a pace bowler. The chat inspired Zaheer to go off to Worcestershire and New Road for a conditioning programme that made him an elite fast bowler again. 12 years on, Zaheer has made a comeback with full fitness yet again to play the Indian Premier League. And fortunately, as the mentor, he has the man, who was the chief architect of the 2005 transformation. 

After watching Zaheer work on regaining full fitness, Dravid has shared his happiness and said that he is extremely happy to see Zaheer sweat it out and return to shape going into this edition of the IPL.

“Zak was brilliant for us both on and off the field as skipper. He has led really well. And we were really eager to get him this season and even though it can be a challenge since he has not been playing competitive cricket, I am glad and credit to him that he agreed to work on his fitness and stay fit and come back this season," Dravid told CricketNext.

"We have a lot of youngsters in the team and that is where we needed Zaheer as he brings in that knowledge and sense of calm in the dressing room and you need that when you are playing a tournament like the IPL. Also, a lot of the youngsters look up to Zaheer as he is an inspiration."

Delhi looked to have a well-balanced team for this season but the withdrawal of South African duo JP Duminy (personal reasons) and Quinton De Kock (finger injury) has left them short-handed. Dravid shared his disappointment on missing the key players but Dravid added that it was an opportunity for the youngsters to fill the voids left by the star players.

"It is obviously a big blow when you lose big players like JP Duminy and Quinton De Kock just going into the tournament. If these things happen before the auction then it is easier because you can plan better. But then this is how it goes and you cannot help it. We do have talented players like Sam Billings and hopefully they can go up and perform," he said.

"Also, we have all-rounders like Corey Anderson and Angelo Mathews who have proved themselves at the highest level and will be able to, in some way, replace JP. But yes, Quinton is a big loss because he played so many games for us and was one of our main batsmen. We had built him up for this season, but this is how life is and you cannot do much about it."

Delhi Daredevils will start their campaign on April 8 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.