Jimmy Neesham had predicted Ajaz Patel's 10-wicket haul three hours before spinner's feat

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 (5x4, 1x6) 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.

New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham posted a screenshot of a group WhatsApp chat in which he revealed that he had guessed the Mumbai-born spinner will get the ten-wicket haul three hours before the spinner was to achieve the feat. 

Check out the tweet here:  

Called it in the group chat 3 hours ago ___ pic.twitter.com/RCaLLHEjzC — Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) December 4, 2021

With IANS inputs