Tendai Chatara, the 'mountaineer' turned medium pacer

Tendai Larry Chatara, a tall, wiry and young right-arm fast bowler, is one of the finds of the 2013-14 season for a struggling Zimbabwe team. For a team that is ailing with off-field issues like unfulfilled player dues, Chatara's stellar bowling performance on September 14, 2013 against Pakistan came as a soothing balm for Africa's second-best cricket nation.

The 22-year-old took a career-best 5 for 61 in the second innings of the second Test against Pakistan to help his side score a historic 24-run win in Harare. The win was historic as it is Zimbabwe's first Test victory against a team other than Bangladesh, since regaining Test-match status. (Read: Pakistan drop to 6th in Test rankings)

Chatara belongs to a village named Chimanimani in the mountainous region of Manicaland in Zimbabwe. Not surprisingly, he represents the Mountaineers in the first-class cricket. Naturally athletic, he grew up participating in the 200 and 400 metre events in school for his home province of Manicaland.

However, he soon found his calling in cricket and went on to represent Zimbabwe in the Under-19 World Cup in 2009-10. Months later, he made his international debut against India in a Twenty20 in Harare.

Chatara bowls with a nice open chested action and has the ability to extract bounce from the surface at a decent pace, hovering around 130-135 kmph mark. He forms the new-found league of promising medium-fast bowlers to come out from Zimbabwe in the last couple of years with the likes of Kyle Jarvis, who surprisingly quit international cricket, and left-arm medium pacer Brian Vitori.

With 15 Test wickets after his first four games, Chatara has definitely made an impressive beginning in the longest format of the game. A man of few words, Chatara, who was named man of the match for his 6 wickets in the match, said, "It feels nice to win after team didn't make great start. I just told myself to hit the right line and lengths."