India vs New Zealand 2021: Record-breaker Ajaz Patel praises Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid and Ravichandran Ashwin for special gesture

New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel created history at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday by becoming only the third bowler to claim all 10 wickets in an innings. Although the Black Caps went on to lose the second Test by 372 runs on Monday (December 6), the match will always be remembered for Mumbai-born Ajaz’s 10/119 in the first innings.

Team India skipper Virat Kohli, head coach Rahul Dravid and bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Ravichandran Ashwin took time out specially go up to Ajaz and congratulate him on his special achievement.

“In sport it is great that we can acknowledge even our rival’s success. It was nice of Virat, Rahul sir, Siraj and then Ashwin to get all those autographs for me on the t-shirt. Even that photo after the match, speaks a lot about the sporting world right now. Off the field we’ll always remain a gentleman’s sport. The photo came about through the idea of a few wise heads in the media team back home, some inputs from me and some from the Indian team as well,” Ajaz Patel said during a virtual media conference on Tuesday (December 7).

“Obviously it was a very special for me personally. We (NZ team) will take a lot of learning from this series and whenever we return to play in India, we’ll be much more stronger,” Ajaz added.

In Sync!

How's that for a quartet! #INDvNZ #TeamIndia @Paytm pic.twitter.com/eKqDIIlx7m — BCCI (@BCCI) December 6, 2021

The 33-year-old Ajaz was born in a Muslim household in Jogeshwari in Mumbai, who moved to New Zealand when he was eight years old. The Kiwi spinners praised the spirit of New Zealand in face of adversity especially towards the Muslim community after the Christchurch mosque attack back in 2019.

“After the terror attack in Christchurch in 2019, the Muslim community was badly affected. Most of the Muslims in NZ, were coming back from namaz on Friday when that attack happened. But it is a great tribute to the people of New Zealand, that my mother can still feel safe about stepping out in a burkha even today. We were about to move into a new locality and it was touching when a plant and letter with the message that ‘we support you and we are in this together’ was kept outside our new house after that attack,” Ajaz said, recalling the troubled times in the aftermath of the 2019 incident.

‘Want to be a role model for young spinners in New Zealand’

While the small list of bowlers to take 10 wickets in innings is dominated by spinners, New Zealand is a country where top-class spinners are few and far between. Ajaz hopes that his record-breaking performance in Mumbai will help inspire more Kiwi kids to take up slow bowling.

“More than being a role model for Asian community, I would like to be role model for young spinners. It is very hard to be a spinner in New Zealand. I hope that after my performance in Wankhede, more children back home will be inspired to take up spin bowling,” Ajaz said.

Asked when he started to dream about taking all 10 wickets, Ajaz said, “It wasn’t until I picked up my ninth wicket in the innings, did I start to think about claiming all 10. Before that I had been bowling such a long spell and as a spinner you take it ball by ball. I started to feel to pressure in the last over with four balls remaining Siraj was batting.”