Mumbai-born Ajaz Patel has run riot at Wankhade Stadium as the 33-year-old completed a 5-wicket haul. The left-arm orthodox spinner is stealing the spotlight from Mayak Agarwal as they both are having a dream run in the match. At the time of writing Ajaz Patel has taken all of India’s wickets with figures of 78 for 6.
Ajaz born in Mumbai playing in his 10th Test match for the Blackcaps took his third 5-wicket haul. It was his first 5-wicket haul since August 2019 against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The veteran bowler also took five wickets on his debut against Pakistan in November 2018 at Abu Dhabi. Interestingly, all his 5-wicket hauls have come on foreign soil.
Ajaz who took four wickets on Day 1 of the Mumbai Test started from where he had left on Day 2. It took only four balls for the 33-year-old to make his presence feel as he dismissed Wriddhiman Saha Leg Before to complete his third 5-wicket haul. This was immediately followed by dismissing Ravichandran Ashwin on the very next ball. By this time Ajaz was on a hat-trick.
Only Daniel Vettori and Richard Hadlee have taken more 5-wicket hauls on Asian soil. Vettori had 8 while Hadlee had five 5-wicket hauls. Ajaz and Agarwal are both having a toe-to-toe contest for their respective teams. At the time of writing, Agarwal at the time of writing is unbeaten on 130 while India had passed the 250-run mark.
