Ajaz Patel ran riot with the ball in New Zealand’s historic 3-0 Test series win over India away from home. He troubled India’s famed batting line-up with his left-arm spin.
Despite Ajaz returning with 15 wickets in the three-match series, with 11 of those coming in the final Test at the Wankhede Stadium, Mohammad Kaif refused to call the Kiwi spinner a quality bowler.
In a video shared on his 'X' handle, Kaif ridiculed Ajaz, saying that India have bowlers of his quality in every single club.
The former cricketer didn’t mince his words as he slammed the Indian batters for allowing Ajaz to produce Player-of-the-Match performance in the Mumbai Test.
"Ajaz Patel didn't bowl well. If you see his pitch map, he delivered two full-toss, two short balls, and two length delivers but still managed to take wickets," Kaif said.
Kaif also derided New Zealand's part-time spinner Glenn Phillips, who picked up four wickets in the Mumbai Test and finished the series with eight scalps to his name.
"Glenn Phillips is a part-timer and he doesn't know how to bowl good deliveries. We lost to part-timers and not to quality spinners. Let people say that Ajaz Patel has taken 22 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. He can't even land the ball properly. Ajaz Patel bowled just two good deliveries in an over and got wickets. The defeat in the final Test is embarrassing. There was no bowler in New Zealand side in the Mumbai Test," he added.
The only Kiwi spinner who received some bit of praise from Kaif was Mitchell Santner, who ran through the Indian batting line-up in the second Test in Pune. Santner didn’t feature in the final match of the series due to an injury.
"Santner did bowl well. The bowling he produced in Pune was a classic Test match performance," Kaif remarked, lauding the left-arm tweaker.