Watch Video: Zaheer Khan chats with mid-day post-retirement

On retirement thoughts crossing his mind at any point in his careerNot really It was all about making comebacks I just wanted to be sure As a cricketer it is always a tough call to retire You are never sure when it is going to come Till the time I was hopeful of playing at the highest level I was only thinking of that Right now when the thought came it was clear That is why I felt it is the right time to call it a day On consulting any cricketer before retiringThe decision was made and then I went and spoke to everyone I met Sachin Tendulkar also I had a word with Ashish Nehra Ajit Agarkar and with all my coaches I spoke to Sudhir Naik sir and TA Sekhar as wellZaheer Khan addresses the media at a city hotel yesterday PicSayyed Sameer Abedi On the 2006 county stint with WorcestershireIt played a huge role but I must tell you leading up to that I had been advised to cut short my runup I was just not able to do that because I was playing international cricket regularly and those are things you just cannot go and change in the international game I got an opportunity to work on it while I was away from international cricket Cutting short my runup gave me more control That process happened in county cricket as I bowled more and more with a short runup That helped me become a more attacking bowler in terms of exploiting a batsmans weaknessAlso Read Sudhir Naik says Zaheer sometimes slept with only a chaddar and no pillowOn mastering reverse swingIn Indian conditions the ball would go reverse on most occasions There is a particular way in which you can release the ball to get the maximum out of it If you dont do that and dont hide the ball appropriately you wont get that I started hiding the ball and it just happened for me I cannot really pinpoint any particular moment when I mastered itAlso Read10 interesting facts you must know about Zaheer KhanOn whether the spell at Nottingham in 2007 was his bestThere have been many spells Any matchwinning spell is a valuable one I always looked at bowling crucial spells in which I can take two to three wickets and change the course of the matchOn the jelly beans incident during 2007 Test series in EnglandI did act up a bit and thats what everyone does I am happy about that I didnt act it up on the field but post match I didZaheer Khan celebrates the fall of a SL wicket with Virat Kohli during the 2011 World Cup final at Wankhede PicAFPOn learning from the 2003 World Cup final failure and winning the 2011 World Cup finalIn a way it 2003 final was a good learning curve for me Obviously I was disappointed when it happened After the national anthem everyone was so charged up and I was about to bowl That didnt help and I was acting out of my character That was not my natural way of approaching situations I did go at the Aussie batters and in the process I lost control in those two overs Then it was hard for me to get back That experience did help in the 2011 final As I was standing for the national anthem I was kind of zoned out and we happened to bowl again this time The night before I was saying that I have worked at it I have got a second opportunity and I know what to do I looked at it as an experience which was going to help me do better I did not view it as pressure of not doing well in the 2003 World Cup finalOn missing out on 100Test milestone by just eight matchesIt is a special number I have always enjoyed the process but the way my career has panned out in the last few years I had stopped thinking about that laughsOn his childhood mentors Sudhir Naik and Vidya ParadkarThe advice that I got in those early days has been very special They taught me the right kind of approach towards cricket I just spent a lot of hours bowling at National Cricket Club and learning from Sudhir Naik sir and Vidya Paradkar sir Sudhir sir once told me that since I started playing cricket quite late I had a long way to go in catching up with the others Hence I had to spend extra time on the field to do thatAlso ReadZaheer Khan announces retirement from international cricketOn his early days strugglesEverything when I look back has a link to it mdash coming to Mumbai quitting engineering going to MRF Pace Foundation debuting in firstclass cricket from Baroda and then again coming to Mumbai and playing for India I believe in destiny and the journey has been a special one I look back at these moments with a lot of pride21The number of wickets Zaheer Khan claimed during the 2011 World Cup He was the joint highest wickettaker of the tournament with Pakistans Shahid Afridi