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It's goodbye Zak. But we will never forget his yorkers, like the ones in the video above.

Rajeev Shukla’s announcement on Twitter on Thursday that Zaheer Khan, India’s pace spearhead during the 2000s, will be retiring sent cricket fans into the realms of nostalgia. The left-arm pace bowler from Maharashtra is the fourth-highest wicket taker for India in Test Matches and played a leading part of the 2011 World Cup winning team, picking up 21 wickets in that tournament.

Khan suffered from various injuries throughout his career, which kept him out of the side intermittently. He burst onto the scene at the 2000 ICC Knockouts, ratting Steve Waugh’s stumps with a full toss and delivering one toe-crushing yorker after another.

India’s long search for a pace bowler with venom and swing had finally borne fruit. Khan became an integral part of the Sourav Ganguly era, hitting the winning runs in the famous 2002 NatWest final and playing a stellar role in India’s run to the 2003 World Cup final.

Injuries threatened to bring an abrupt end to his career in 2004 but a leaner and fitter Zaheer Khan returned after remodelling his action. The old pace was gone but the mind was sharper. In his second coming, Khan focused on thinking batsmen out which brought him rich dividends.

The English found to their peril that an enraged Zaheer Khan was a dangerous creature, as the man from Maharashtra picked up 5/75 to deliver India a famous away win against England at Trent Bridge in 2007.

Khan followed that up with another five wicket haul against Australia in 2008 in Bengaluru and continued his rich overseas form with a special performance against New Zealand in the windy climes of Wellington in 2009.

But undoubtedly, his best moment came in 2011 with his performances in the World Cup triumph capping off an impressive career. Struggling with fitness and injuries, Khan played his last Test in 2014, and last ODI in 2012, before making way for the newer generation.

He continues to play in the Indian Premier League for the Delhi Daredevils, and as a spell of 2/9 against Chennai last year showed, still retains the qualities that made him India’s pace spearhead almost a decade ago.