New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel on Saturday (December 4) etched his name in the history books as he became only the third bowler in cricket history to pick all 10 wickets in a Test innings.
Ajaz achieved the feat on Day 2 of the ongoing Mumbai Test against India. The left-arm spinner took the four Indian wickets that fell on Day 1 and he accounted for the remaining six dismissals on the second day to finish with the surreal bowling figures of 10 for 119 in his 47.5 overs.
Ajaz notched up the special landmark when he got rid of Mohammed Siraj in the 110th over to wrap India’s first innings on 325.
As soon as India’s innings folded, the Mumbai-born spinner received rousing applause from the fans present at the Wankhede Stadium. Ajaz also got a standing ovation from veteran India off-spinner R Ashwin while walking back to the pavilion, with Kiwi teammates clapping for him all the way through.
BCCI posted a video of the same on Twitter and captioned it as: “Incredible achievement as Ajaz Patel picks up all 10 wickets in the 1st innings of the 2nd Test. He becomes the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to achieve this feat.”
With this achievement, Ajaz Patel became only the third bowler after England’s Jim Laker (10/53) and India’s Anil Kumble (10/74) to grab all 10 wickets in a Test innings. While Laker had accomplished the milestone against Australia in 1956 at Old Trafford, Kumble did the same against Pakistan in Delhi Test of the 1999 series.
