New Zealand bowler Ajaz Patel.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: When Ajaz Patel arrived in Mumbai, the city of his birth, for his maiden Test in India in 2021, he would’ve hoped for the red-soil surface to give him its blessings so he could do alright.
Little did he, or anyone, know that he would take 10-wickets-in-an-innings.
He has since travelled to England, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, putting up a decent account of himself, but he hasn’t looked nearly as good as he did in those 47.5 overs at the Wankhede stadium nearly three years ago.
In fact, he looked tragic during the Pune Test, even if he insists that he was only playing the holding role. That said, from his tone during the presser on Wednesday, you could sense that he was hoping for the rub of the green going his way.
"It’s always emotional to be back here,” he said. “I actually didn’t think I was ever going to get a chance to play at this venue again. “To be honest, my memory is very poor so I don't exactly remember the surface that well, but one thing I do remember was it looked a lot drier to start with. But, in saying that we're still two days out from the game. The last time we were here we didn't see the pitch till the day of the game so it is going to change over the next couple of days and it will be interesting to see what it looks like by the time we get around to game time.
“Certainly we know that red soil can offer a bit more pace and a bit more bounce so it's I guess accepting that and knowing that you may be bowling with a bit more overspin or a bit more sidespin to get different results and then it's just kind of using that to your advantage.”
Despite Ajaz’s struggles to find the right length, New Zealand were able to win the second Test on the back of Mitchell Santner’s 13-wicket match haul to claim the series. Ajaz noted that the team enjoyed the victory, but that’s behind them now.
“We have to be pretty happy coming to India and we know how tough a task it is to win against India at home and win a series. So to be able to do that has been very, very special and it's certainly taken a whole team effort to be able to do that,” he said. “We've played some very, very good cricket over the last couple of weeks and I guess moving forward into this game, it's really important that we start again and really forget about what's gone behind us and put that to bed so that we can focus on the task in front of us.”