Zaheer Khan vs James Anderson - Who is the better Test bowler?

[Hiraeth]

Pretty self explanatory. Discuss.
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] [MENTION=97523]Buffet[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION] @Cheif Destroyer [MENTION=141390]Ellipsism[/MENTION] [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] [MENTION=136079]ahmedwaqas92[/MENTION]

5-fers away from home

Anderson: 4 from 88 innings
Zaheer Khan: 8 from 95 innings

 

[The_Odd_One]

Anderson

Zaheer had a very short peak. He was very mediocre outside of his peak. Anderson has been consistently world class and among the top 5 pacers since 2009.

 

[Toaster]

I would put Anderson ahead of Zaheer Khan. Zaheer was average to good for the first half of his career, after which he reinvented himself and had a good peak, but he was nowhere near the class of Anderson, who is more consistent than Zaheer was.

 

[Bilal7]

Anderson and quite easily at that. He's simply better than Zaheer at everything. Be it conventional swing, reverse swing, cutters, dry bowling and I reckon the Englishman has been the quicker of the two as well.

 

[Bilal7]

However, Zaheer was a class bowler himself. Easily one of India's top three pace bowlers of all time and I would actually place him at #1, all formats considered.

 

[wrongun]

Anywhere except England- Zaheer. Even then Zaheer is effective in England.

Every other tough testing ground for a pacer he out bowls Anderson- Oz, SA, NZ etc. & obviously in India I'd prefer Zaheer.

Anderson receives great plaudits for being good with the Duke, mediocre everywhere else but just being good enough not to be dropped for 10 years.

 

[sl-fan-of-pak]

I think the 5fers need to be looked at in conjunction with the bowling Average and Strike rate. Also away for Zaheer is bowling paradises for Fast bowlers, such as RSA,ENG,NZ and AUS.

 

[sl-fan-of-pak]

James Anderson 33.8/67 (without India & England)
Zaheer Khan 32/55 (without India & England)

wow, so I just checked...Zaheer is > Anderson

 

[Hasan123]

James Anderson.

 

[Mamoon]

Anderson.

 

[Benchwarmer]

I don't care about Anderson not performing elsewhere tbh.Exploiting the conditions is also a skill.Anderson in England is an even bigger monster than Ashwin in India

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Zaheer Khan: The Don Bradman of pace!

enough said

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Anderson.

 

[Buffet]

I will take Anderson even though his stats are mainly based on doing well in Eng where Zaheer also did well.

 

[Ab Fan]

Anderson.

 

[ShahidDar08]

No comparison at all. Even Broad is better than Zaheer.

 

[Varun]

Anderson.

Let's not underestimate longevity and being injury-free.

 

[UN talkz]

Zaheer Khan.... i haven't checked Stats but really liked Zaheer

 

[Savage]

Obviously Anderson mainly because he has taken 500+ wickets which is great achievement for any fast bowler.

However, Zaheer from(After 2007 WC-2011WC) was as good as any bowler in the world.He was arguably our most valuable player in test.I remember how we lost 1st test in SA 2010 where our bowling was poor as zaheer didn't play that test.As soon as he was back for 2nd test,india's bowling looked threatening again and we won and levelled the series after his comeback.I still believe if he wasn't injured in England 2011(1st test Lords),We wouldn't have been humiliated that badly against England and Australia in 2011-2012.

 

[msb314]

Anderson but Zaheer was a fantastic bowler too!

Such a shame that Zaheer’s career ended the way it did - getting spanked to all parts of the ground by McCullum, Latham and Neesham during THAT Wellington Test of 2014.

 

[Rightarmfast]

Zaheer Khan! He didn't need just one condition to perform.