Xtra Time Web Desk: The Mumbai-born New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel was elated for his exceptional show as he became only the third bowler in Test history to return a 10-for in an innings after Jim Laker (1956) and Anil Kumble (1999) and that too in the city of his birth.
“Personally, it’s one of the greatest cricketing days of my life and it probably will always be,” Patel said at the end of the day.
So has it sunk in yet? “Not really,” he said with a smile.
“After I came off the field, things happened too quickly. These things don’t sink in until later. It’s brilliant for me, my family and my wife. You spend a lot of time away from home as a cricketer and I’m just grateful to God for this occasion. It’s very special for me.”
The 34-year-old spinner felt humbled by Kumble’s tweet and was grinning from ear to ear.
“Yeah, I remember his ten-for. I have seen highlights of that game plenty of times. Very illustrious group to be a part of. Great to see his message and his kind words. Humbled and fortunate to be in that company.”
So did at any point 10-for cross his mind during the early stages of the Indian innings?
“No, not quite. I knew there was work to do. I wanted to get up on the honours board. I told myself yesterday that my name was going to be on the honours board but for it to happen was special.”
There was an entire gamut of emotions that he felt when Rachin Ravindra went underneath the aerial ball at mid-on.
“It was a nervous time. We backed Rachin to take it but the ball wobbled and we were all nervous.
“I told Neil Wagner, during drinks, that I was more nervous now than I was all game. We don’t have these moments as cricketers often. It was special that it came in Mumbai,” he sounded emotional, as his extended family still stays in Mumbai suburb Jogeshwari.
Unlike Javagal Srinath who bowled wides to facilitate Kumble’s 10th wicket (Wasim Akram), Patel said that he had no such discussions with any of his teammates and would have been happy with even nine wickets.
“No talk of that sort. It doesn’t matter who gets the wickets. I would have been happy had I got nine and someone else took one. It was really about making sure we did our job.”
Can this performance translate into an IPL contract? Patel doesn’t want to look that far.
“Oh, if I could get a contract, I would be lucky. But I haven’t looked that far ahead. Playing for New Zealand is all I can think of doing. Whatever happens later on, we can worry about it later,” he concluded.