Ajaz Patel becomes the third bowler to claim all 10 wickets in a Test innings
New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel etched himself in the record books on Saturday (December 4), becoming only third bowler in the history of Test match cricket to take 10 wickets in an innings.
Patel’s remarkable feat came on Day 2 of the second Test on the tour of India in Mumbai. As the spinner dismissed India’s No.11 batter Mohammed Siraj in the afternoon session, he earned himself a record achieved by only two other bowlers in Test match history.
An interesting fact about Ajaz Patel’s incredible performance is that it came at the state of his birth Maharashtra. Born in Mumbai before shifting base to New Zealand, Patel had a great homecoming and will never be able to forget the day.
His marathon spell of 10/116 from 47.5 overs included scalps of some of the most renowned players of spin in Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli among others and helped New Zealand keep India down to 325 in the first innings on a challenge track at the Wankhede stadium.
Ajaz Patel is now etched in record books forever.
Ajaz Patel enters the club of Anil Kumble and Jim Lacker
Ajaz Patel made the elite list of bowlers with a 10-fer in a Test innings, entering the club which Jim Lacker of England was the first to step in before India great Anil Kumble joined him.
Jim Laker – 10/53 vs Australia, Manchester, 1956
Laker achieved his feat in the famous fourth Test of the 1956 Ashes in Manchester. In the second innings of the Test, the England off-spinner bagged astonishing figures of 10/53 to help dismiss Australia for only 205 and clinch a win by an innings & 170 runs.
The amazing aspect of Laker’s achievement is that he missed out on taking the whole of 20 wickets by only one scalp in the first half, where he had taken 9 for 37 to bundle out Australia for just 84.
Lacker’s match haul of 19/90 remains the best ever in the history of Test match cricket. The off-spinner helped England take a significant 2-1 lead in a close-fought Ashes series, from where the home team eventually kept the urn.
Lacker ended his Test career with 193 wickets at an average of just 21.04, including nine five-wicket hauls.
Anil Kumble – 10/74 vs Pakistan, Delhi, 1999
Decades later, Laker had another great spinner joining him in as India’s warhorse Anil Kumble picked up all 10 wickets against Pakistan. Kumble’s achievement came in the second innings of the Delhi Test of the 1999 series where his spell of 10/74 dismissed the fine Pakistan batting unit for just 207 in defense of the mammoth 474-run target.
Kumble also bagged figures of 4/75 in the first innings to earn India a crucial 80-run lead despite posting a score of 252 on a tricky surface. But his rich second-innings haul would’ve been more satisfying, as he dismissed Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq with his vicious googlies and straight ones, which were beautifully mixed and disguised with his sharp legbreaks.
It was one of the finest hours of a challenging career for one of Indian cricket’s greatest servants. Kumble went on take a whopping 619 Test wickets in his career at an average of 29.65.