Once termed as the fastest bowler in the world by Brian Lara, Mohammad Zahid ended up playing only five Tests despite picking up 11 wickets on debut, He is the only Pakistani bowler to have picked up a 10-fer on debut. When Pakistan were 0-1 down in a home Test series against New Zealand in Nov 1996, the services of Zahid were called in for. To make matters worse both Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were out injured. Four wickets in the first innings followed by seven wicket haul in the second routed the Kiwis to an innings defeat and hence Punjab's tradition of producing tearaway fast bowlers had another gem added to its list. A Man of the Match award was testimony to Zahid's achievement. But on his first tour to Lanka in 1997, Mohammad played through pain for the first two Tests of the series and later realized that he had broken his back. He had to be out of action for 16 months and came back in Oct 1998 for a solitary Test in which he went wicket-less against Australia. In 2003, he played the last of his Tests against South Africa and was never again picked for Pakistan. A career which threatened to reach the skies had a crash landing as soon as it took off.