Ajaz Patel made history on Saturday by becoming the third bowler to claim all-10 wickets in an innings as New Zealand restricted India to 325 in their first innings on the second day of the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.
Ajaz claimed four wickets on Friday, added two more to his tally in the morning session on the second day and then claimed four more wickets in the post-lunch session as he ended with figures of 10/119, becoming the first bowler to take all-10 wickets in the first innings of a Test match.
Ajaz’s brilliant effort overshadowed a fantastic 150 by Indian opener Mayank Agarwal, a 311-ball effort that contained 17 fours and four sixes.
Agarwal, who was 120 overnight, was the only Indian batsman to build on the start and was involved in crucial partnerships of 80 with Shubman Gill, 80 with Shreyas Iyer for the fourth wicket, 64 with Wriddhiman Saha for the fifth and 67 for the seventh wicket with Axar Patel.
Axar Patel struck a fine 52 off 128 deliveries (5×4, 1×6) as he and Agarwal resurrected the Indian innings after Ajaz had claimed two wickets off successive balls to reduce India to 224/6 as India went to lunch at 285/6.
However, things went south for the hosts soon after restart as Ajaz Patel struck in the 100th over of the innings, sending back Agarwal for a well-made 150 in which he did not commit many mistakes, and used every opportunity to punish the bowlers. He watched the ball carefully and used his feet to the spinners and played them with the turn.
Ajaz claimed the next three wickets quickly as the Indian innings folded at 325 with Patel claiming all 10 wickets.
Earlier, Ajaz claimed two wickets off successive balls in his first over of the day, trapping lbw overnight batsman Wriddhiman Saha for 27 and castling R Ashwin with one that spun and struck the off-stump. Axar Patel survived the hat-trick ball with a solid defensive prod and then helped Agarwal propel India to safety again, avoiding fall of any more wickets till the lunch break
India, starting at overnight 221/4, added 64 runs to their total off 28 overs in the first session.
The Indians found Ajaz Patel a constant thorn in their side as the left-arm spinner, who migrated from Mumbai to New Zealand when he was eight, continued to trouble the Indian batsmen. He gave the ball nice revs, flighted it and got a nice loop going. Ajaz in his first spell on the second morning had figures of 6-0-16-2. Southee had the best of the rest of the New Zealand bowlers with none for 43 off 22 overs.
Brief scores: India 325 all out in 109.5 overs (Mayank Agarwal 150, Axar Patel 52, Shubman Gill 44; Ajaz Patel 10/119).
