Akshar returned with the figures of 5 for 62 in New Zealand's first innings at Kanpur.
Akshar returned with the figures of 5 for 62 – his fifth five-wicket haul in the longest format – as the hosts bundled out the visitors for 296 to take a handy first-innings lead of 49 runs.
After the third day’s play, Akshar Patel engaged in a hilarious conversation with former India batter Wasim Jaffer on Twitter.
Jaffer shared a picture on the micro-blogging site, in which Akshar was seen holding the ball with which he claimed the fifer. In the red cherry, his bowling figure was mentioned along with the wrong date i.e. 10th October 2021.
“The only mistake Axar Patel made today was putting wrong date on the match ball. 27th November hai bapu @akshar2026 #INDvNZ,” Jaffer wrote in his tweet.
In response, Akshar revealed that it was his teammate Suryakumar Yadav who made the error while writing the date on the ball.
“It wasn't me... @surya_14kumar wrote this!,” he replied.
Tom Latham (95), Ross Taylor (11), Henry Nicholls (2), Tom Blundell (13), and Tim Southee (5) were the victims of Akshar Patel in New Zealand’s innings.
In the second innings, Team India scored 14/1 before the stumps on Day 3. Mayank Agarwal (4*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (9*) were unbeaten in the middle as the home side extended their lead to 63 runs.