Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel (10/119) entered the record books with his rare feat as he became only the third bowler in the 144-year-old history of Test cricket to take all 10 wickets in an innings on the second day of the second Test against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
Patel, who had migrated to New Zealand with his parents back in 1996, ended the hosts’ innings with his ‘Perfect Ten’ figure to equal England great Jim Laker and Indian legend Anil Kumble. Both Laker and Kumble had achieved the rarest of rare feat in Test cricket earlier.
The 33-year-old Patel, who is playing in his 11th Test, had only grabbed two five wicket hauls and a best match haul of seven wickets before Saturday’s feat.
In four separate spells, Patel got his 10th and the final wicket in form of tail ender Mohammed Siraj who tried a slog and was caught by another player of Indian-origin Rachin Ravindra.
Patel got a standing ovation from the team and the umpires handed him the coveted ball while leading his team off the field.
The whole cricket fraternity heaped praise on Patel for his stupendous feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings of a Test match. Most of them termed the feat as an ‘unreal’ and a ‘special effort’.
With this ‘Perfect Ten’, Patel also surpassed the great Richard Hadlee to record the best figures by a Kiwi bowler. Hadlee in his best bowling effort had taken 9/52 against Australia way back in 1985.