Ajaz Patel might have taken 11 wickets for New Zealand in the third and final Test against India at the Wankhede Stadium, but former India batter Mohammad Kaif refuses to view the left-arm spinner as a quality operator. In his scathing assessment of India’s home Test series whitewash against New Zealand, Kaif said that it is hard to fathom that Rohit Sharma and co, lost the matches against the Kiwi lineup, which did not even have a quality spinner in the Mumbai Test.
Kaif also poked fun at Glenn Phillips, calling him a ‘part-timer’ who cannot land the ball on good areas consistently. India recently lost the Wankhede Test by 25 runs after chasing down 147, and as a result, the hosts suffered a first series whitewash.
The former India batter said that every club in India has bowlers like Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips. He also mocked the quality these two spinners have.
“This Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips, I am not lying, you will get such type of spinners at our local academies. Just look at Ajaz Patel’s pitchmap, he bowled two short balls, two full tosses and there are just two length deliveries and we are losing our wickets on these two deliveries,” Kaif said, while speaking to journalist Nikhil Naz.
“Glenn Phillips is a part-timer and he doesn’t know how to bowl good deliveries. We lost to part-timers. Let people say that Ajaz Patel has taken 22 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. He can’t even land the ball properly. Ajaz Patel bowled just two good deliveries in an over and got wickets. The defeat in the final Test is embarrassing. There was no bowler in New Zealand side in the Mumbai Test,” he added.
Mohammad Kaif also shared the video clip on social media, and wrote, “Ajaz Patel jaise spinner har local club mein mil jayenge #INDvNZ.”
Kaif says Mitchell Santner ‘bowled well’
Mohammad Kaif, however, did appreciate Mitchell Santner. The left-arm spinner had taken 13 wickets in the Pune Test, helping New Zealand register a comprehensive win and go 2-0 up. Santner then missed the third and final Test due to an injury.
“Santner did bowl well, I accept that. The bowling he did in Pune was a classic Test match performance, the ball was coming in and going out. Santner set up the batters really well there,” saif Kaif.
The series loss against New Zealand is bringing in major criticism for India. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are being called out for their poor preparation for the three-match series against New Zealand.
The 0-3 whitewash now sees India in a difficult position, when it comes to making the World Test Championship final. India now need to win 4-0 or 5-0 Down Under, to make their third WTC final in a row.
