‘It’s surreal’
After picking up four wickets on the first day, Ajaz Patel said: "This is what dreams are made of." What happened in the second day of the second Test against India was the stuff of pure fantasy.
Patel became the third bowler in the 144-year history of Test cricket to take 10 wickets in one innings and wrote a new page into the annals of New Zealand sport.
New Zealand's Mumbai-born spinner added to his tally of four wickets on the opening day to return figures of 10-119. India were all out for 325.
England off-spinner Jim Laker was the first bowler to take a Test ten-for, against Australia in 1956 at Old Trafford. He ended up with 19 wickets in an encounter that came to be known as "Laker's Match".
Indian spin ace Anil Kumble is the only other player to do so, against Pakistan in 1999 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla.
"Welcome to the club #AjazPatel #Perfect10 Well bowled! A special effort to achieve it on Day1 & 2 of a test match," the former leg-spinner tweeted.
Ajaz, who emigrated to New Zealand in 1996 with his parents, was playing just his 11th Test for New Zealand since making his debut in 2018.
Now 33, his previous Test best was 5-59.
"Honestly, it's surreal and to be able to do that in my career is pretty special," he said. "The stars have aligned for me to do it in Mumbai.
"I'm in very illustrious company with Kumble sir as well."
Veteran Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh lauded his feat, saying: "Ajaz Patel This will be remembered forever 47.5-12-119-10 simply outstanding. Let me stand and clap."
Australia's Aaron Finch said: "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!! Ajaz Patel... What a phenomenal performance."
"Sensational! Just sensational!! To take all 10 wickets in a Test innings is the stuff dreams are made of. Take a bow, Ajaz Patel, you are in the elite company of Jim Laker and Anil Kumble. And to do it in the city of your birth, wow!! ," said VVS Laxman.
On the eve of the Test, the 33-year-old spoke of his excitement about returning to India's largest city once more, this time wearing a silver fern on his cap.
And after removing the Indian top order on day one, Patel called it a dream come true, flourishing in his first chance to play in front of the family members he usually sits beside in the stands on trips to Wankhede.
It would have required the wildest of imaginations for Patel to envisage the events of day two, finishing the innings with figures of 10 for 119.
Since 1985, Sir Richard Hadlee's 9-52 has loomed large for Kiwi sport fans. New Zealand's greatest bowler recorded that haul at the Gabba, playing Australia, one of the toughest tests in the sport.
But facing India on the subcontinent also ranks rather high in that particular category, and Patel tore through the hosts in unprecedented fashion.
He found his calling in cricket and his heart was set on becoming a devastating fast bowler in the mould of national hero Richard Hadlee.
It was not until his mid-20s that he realised he was too short to make it as a quick, and switched from left-arm medium-pace to spin under former New Zealand spinner Dipak Patel. He thought it "might be fun" to try being a spinner, he once recalled.
The change transformed his career: he was selected for the national team at the late age of 30, and has now overtaken New Zealand's previous Test best of 9-52 by Hadlee himself, against Australia at Brisbane in 1985.
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