‘RETIREMENT IS A PERSONAL CHOICE’

Former star India pacer, Zaheer Khan feels MS Dhoni is ‘probably the fittest you have ever seen him’; adds the muchtalkedabout YoYo fitness test is ‘a good thing’

What I am really happy with, is how the graph of improvement in Indian cricket has been moving up over the years. Each and every individual has been pushing the bar... fitness is being given more importance now. ZAHEER KHAN, FORMER INDIAN CRICKETER

An athlete can choose to quit a game but the game never leaves him or her. It would probably be an apt way to describe one of India’s best and most fearsome pacers, Zaheer Khan. For starters, ask him about the ongoing India-England test series and Zaheer, also fondly known as Zak, says: “It’s a really long test series. I must played only two such five test match series in my entire career,” while chatting about life, post retirement, current Indian team, wife Sagarika Ghatge and more.

How is life?

Well, life is pretty relaxed now. There’s one less thing to think about which was taking majority of my time (smiles).

Having said that, until some time back, your life was all about cricket…

That’s what happens because you make all the sacrifices and your life revolves around the sport as well as all the planning [for it]. And that was on since the time I started playing cricket around 1996. I came to Mumbai around that time, and since then, my life’s been all about cricket. So that, of course, takes up the majority of your life. But even now, since most of my friends are from the cricketing fraternity, I end up discussing cricket when we meet.

Don’t you miss the game?

If you ask any bowler, his mind is always excited about bowling but there comes a stage when your body kind of tells you that it is time to move on. That’s something I was not an exception to. So, yes, I think it was the right time to go away from the game. I always wanted to leave the game on a high and I am happy that I was able to do that.

However, you have more time for yourself and Sagarika now…

Yes, absolutely! Now, I suddenly have more time and that’s important too. Family time is very important and I keep telling Sagarika that you would have probably hated me had you met me 10 years back when I was at the peak of my game because my priority then, was the game (laughs). So I tell her jokingly, ‘you have come at the right time when I am relaxed and away from the game’.

Talking of cricket, how do you view Virat Kohli’s style of captaincy right now?

What I am really happy with, is how the graph of improvement in Indian cricket has been moving up over the years. Each and every individual has been pushing the bar. From Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, to Rahul Dravid and MS [Dhoni], the processes have only got better. The support staff, too, has been evolving. If you look at the ’90s, 2000-10, and the current period, fitness is being given more importance now. Today, we are rated as one of the best fielding units in the world, which wasn’t the case a decade back. So, I think even Virat will take things forward and he has set the example, including in terms of fitness. Even the team management has set different criteria [of fitness]. The core group has been taking the responsibility of changing things, so I have no doubt that it’s been only an upward curve for the team.

Of late, the YoYo fitness test has been the talk of the town. What’s your take?

By setting that criterion, you are making one thing clear that it is important to be at a certain level [vis-à-vis fitness]. What seems pretty simple — as a thought process — is that if you are playing at this level, you are supposed to have a basic level of fitness. If you don’t have it, then no one is saying that you are not good enough, but please go back, work on it [fitness] and get to that level. If this criterion is being followed for all the cricketers and [big] names can’t have [any] influence [on it], then it is a great thing. If you are going to play that aggressive, high-intensity brand of cricket, then you need all the players to be at a certain level [of fitness]. So, I think it’s a good thing.

Speculations over MS Dhoni’s limited-overs career are nothing new. At the end of the one-day series in England, talks were again rife — especially on social media — about his retirement… Retirement is a personal choice and there is no standard formula that it has to be achieved in a certain manner. Every individual knows when it is time and a number of factors can lead up to it. But for any athlete, it’s the call of their life because it is something that’s been a huge part of their life for a long time. And so, only an individual can decide when and how to go away from it. Also, there is no doubt that he is a very intelligent man. I feel [right now] he is probably the fittest you have ever seen him [in recent times].