Zaheer Khan is under pressure from the younger bowlers in  the Indian team. Whether he agrees to that or not, their emergence as pacemen of genuine quality is definitely at the back of his mind.

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is absence, the bowling performances of Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji have made them virtual certainties in the Indian squad. The duo bowled their hearts out during the series against Australia and Pakistan.

Pathan and Balaji were thrust into the limelight by the injuries caused to India's top bowlers. They did not disappoint and performed so well that now people are actually asking Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer about how they plan to deal with the competition.

In front of the camera, the trio responded in a cliched manner: "The competition is good for us. It will make us work harder. It's good for the team."

But away from the prying eyes of the media, they put on their game face.

Much after the rest of the bowlers finished training and left the NCA, Zaheer continued to plug away. In a far corner of the ground, all by himself, the lonely figure of Zaheer was seen trudging back to his bowling mark and then charging in again for almost 45 minutes. He would reach the end of the mark, think about what he wanted to do and then charge in off a full run-up.

There was no one close to him. Just him and the leather ball. It almost seemed like he was on a mission to rediscover his love of the game. There no sign of the hamstring injury he sustained recently. None of the other bowlers have started bowling in the nets as yet, and what one witnessed in fading light on Thursday evening was a fit and determined Zaheer.

The evening session, which normally is two hours, was self extended to three-and-half hours as Zaheer did the hard yards. One of the physios said he is in peak condition.

The battle is yet to begin for most, but the Baroda pacer looks ready for anything the world can throw at him.

The sign of greatness for any player is the way he rises up to a challenge. Zaheer has shown that he is keen to get back to his best. In a world where many are content with what they have, he is pushing himself like never before to cement a place in the side.