Ajaz Patel emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the Test series between India and New Zealand. Patel, turned nightmare for the Indian batting order, walked off the field with a snow white test cap after helping New Zealand complete a clean sweep on Indian soil of 3-0. The outcome of the series was as surprising as the fact that many of Indian batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill etc. considered to be good players of spin, struggled against the New Zealand spinners where the likes of Ajaz had completed the series collecting a remarkable 15 wickets in three matches with 11 of them taken at the Wankhede. But still, Mohammad Kaif One of the commentators representing the Indian media, Kaif, chose to do also no consider Ajaz a proper bowler.
In a video on social media, the former Indian player mocked the Kiwi, saying, We have bowlers of that level in every single club in India. He went on to defend the Indian side, saying that it was their failure that allowed Ajaz to snap up 11 wickets in the third Test match.
“Ajaz Patel didn’t bowl that well. If you see his pitch map, he only bowled two full tosses and two good nose height balls, and two length deliveries, and he still got wickets,” said Kaif.
Even as he ridiculed New Zealand’s part-time spinner who took 4 wickets in the Mumbai Test, the former Indian batsman was -11 Pamela Howell laughed.
“Glenn Phillips is a part-timer and he doesn’t know good deliveries. We were beaten by part-timers and not spinners of quality. So what if it is being talked about that Ajaz Patel has taken 22 wickets in Wankhede stadium? He can’t even bowl the ball properly. Ajaz Patel got wickets by bowling just two good deliveries out of 6 in an over. It is very disappointing to lose the last Test match in the series. There was no bowler playing from the New Zealand side during the Mumbai test,” added Mohammad Kaif.
Kaif did, however, have kind words for one spinner from New Zealand. That was Mitchell Santner, who took 11 wickets in the Pune Test but could not play in the last Test of the series because of injury.
Kaif commended the left-arm bowler by saying, “Santner did bowl well. The sort of bowling he showed in Pune was a perfect Test match performance.”
