BlackCaps bowler Ajaz Patel established history on Saturday by becoming only the third bowler in Test cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings. He earned the incredible achievement facing India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Ajaz imitated the achievement of Jim Laker and Anil Kumble, who had done it back in 1956 and 1999. Whilst Laker took 10/56 at Old Trafford in opposition to Australia, Kumble had 10/74 against Pakistan.
Ajaz grasped four wickets on Day 1 of the Test match, counting Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli’s wicket.
On the morning of Day 2, he got Wriddhiman Saha and Ravichandran Ashwin’s wicket on back-to-back deliveries and was also near to claim a hat-trick.
After lunch, Ajaz didn’t need a lot of time to run through the spare wickets. Once Mayank Agarwal edged a delivery, the march started as the tail couldn’t sway owing to Ajaz’s intensity. He finished off his magnificent day with a double-wicket over in Mumbai, which happens to be his hometown.
The part about the 10-wicket haul which will stand out is how harmless the rest of the bowlers seemed on a good bowling track while Ajaz went through the Indian batting order. Notably, his best figures in first-class cricket before this was 6/48, putting into perspective how excellent he was on Saturday.
