Wasim Jaffer reveals an unheard story from his playing days
The incident involved India's Zaheer Khan and England's Kevin Pietersen
Zaheer ended the Test match with 9 wickets - 4 in the 1st and 5 in the 2nd innings
Former Indian cricketer and domestic first-class legend Wasim Jaffer has made a massive revelation about an incident that took place while he was an active player, back in 2007 when India went on a full-length multi format tour of England.
The incident, which involved India's left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan and England batter Kevin Pietersen, had well and truly changed the course of that Test match and also decided the 3-match series.
After the 1st Test match ended in a stalemate at the iconic Lord's stadium, both India and England were looking draw the first blood in Nottingham under overcast conditions.
The Indians, who were being led by Rahul Dravid at the time, started the match on the front foot, bowling England out for 198 in the 1st innings. With the bat too, the visitors were spot on.
Openers Dinesh Karthik (77) and Wasim Jaffer (62) had a 142-run opening stand and that had pretty much set the tone for India.
The following batters - Rahul Dravid (37), Sachin Tendulkar (92), Sourav Ganguly (79), VVS Laxman (54) and MS Dhoni (5) took India's total to 481.
Tailenders - Anil Kumble (30), Zaheer Khan (10) and Sreesanth (2) made a combined effort of 42 runs.
England were anyways under pressure after seeing the Indians bat, but Kevin Pietersen added more misery to his own camp with a nonchalant act that instigated Zaheer Khan.
How Kevin Pietersen Dug Up England's Grave By Triggering Zaheer Khan?
Wasim Jaffer recently appeared on the Great Indian Cricket Show, which is televised live on Doordarshan and therein, he made an admission that was never heard before.
He narrated an incident when Kevin Pietersen was chewing on jellybeans and accidentally threw one from his mouth towards Zaheer Khan, who had just come out to bat in the Indian 1st innings.
"Zaheer had gone out to bat when he felt Kevin Pietersen had done something disrespectful. Pietersen was eating sweets, possibly jelly beans, which people often believe helps in shining the ball." - Wasim Jaffer said via Doordarshan's Great Indian Cricket Show.
When Zaheer realized Pietersen actually threw something at him, the former was absolutely charged up and the duo had also exchanged a few verbal jibes. And according to Wasim Jaffer, the Indian seamer was extremely gassed up.
“Zaheer felt Pietersen may have thrown something or crossed the line. A few words were exchanged, tensions rose, and Zaheer was completely fired up." - Jaffer added.
As former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun once said, "It is one thing to get angry, but channeling that anger into bowling is a whole different thing."
That's what exactly Zaheer Khan did. He went out and registered a 5-wicket haul, which included the wickets of which included the wickets of Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell.
According to Wasim Jaffer, that spell from Zaheer changed the course of the entire match.
“When England came out to bat, Zaheer responded in the best possible way. He picked up five wickets and became one of the main reasons India went on to win that Test match." - Jaffer concluded.
