Indian Team Gift Ajaz Patel a Signed Jersey as Memento of His 10-Wicket Haul

The Indian team gifted Ajaz Patel a signed jersey as a memento for his historic 10-wicket haul in the Mumbai Test.

The Quint
Cricket
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<div class="paragraphs"><p>The Indian team gifted Ajaz Patel a signed jersey as a memento for his historic 10-wicket haul in the Mumbai Test.</p></div>
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The Indian team gifted Ajaz Patel a signed jersey as a memento for his historic 10-wicket haul in the Mumbai Test.

(Photo: BCCI)

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The Mumbai Test has been won by India by a mammoth 372 runs with the spinners picking up the remaining five New Zealand wickets in the first 45 minutes of play on Day 4.

With the two-match series now getting wrapped up with the result, both teams will move onto their next assignment as New Zealand head to Bangladesh and the Indian team take a few days break before the South Africa tour.

Following the result on Monday in Mumbai, players from both teams spent some time together on the field giving interviews to the broadcaster and also interacting among each other.

(Photo: BCCI)

Axar Patel, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra and Ravindra Jadeja got together for a photo-op of their jerseys. Both Rachin and Ajaz have Indian roots with Patel even being born in Mumbai. He moved to New Zealand with his family when he was an 8-year-old and was playing his first international match in Mumbai.

While speaking to the media before the second Test, Ajaz had shared memories of watching IPL matches at the Wandhede Stadium with his family and also bowling at the Mumbai Indians in their nets session.

A few years later, the Kiwi spinner had a dream homecoming at the Wankhede as he picked up all 10 Indian wickets in the first innings.

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His first 10 Tests produced only 29 wickets but his brilliant effort in the 11th propelled Ajaz Patel of New Zealand into the record books as he became the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to claim all 10 wickets in an innings.

With figures of 10/119 in 47.5 overs, Ajaz joined legends Jim Laker of England (1956) and India's Anil Kumble (1999) as the third bowler to dismiss the entire opposing team single-handedly. Laker claimed 10-53 against Australia at Old Trafford on July 26, 1956 while Kumble bagged 10-74 against Pakistan at the then named Feroze Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi on February 4, 1999.

Laker took 51.2 overs to become the first bowler in the history of the game to take all-10 wickets in an innings while Kumble bowled only 26.3 overs for his haul. While, Ajaz in 47.5 overs -- that he bowled in four spells of 24-10-57-4, 5-0-16-0, 6-0-16-2 and 12.5-2-30-4 -- his fourth spell on the second day of the Test being the most devastating.

Ajaz, whose previous best effort in an innings is 5/59 against Pakistan, gave away 73 runs for his first four wickets but claimed the next six for only 46. In the process, he produced the best bowling figures ever in an international match at the Wankhede stadium and also the best bowling figures against India.

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Published: 06 Dec 2021,01:06 PM IST

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