By Niharika Raina
Mumbai, Dec 21 (IANS) When Ajaz Patel was at crossroads after not being picked for the New Zealand U-19 World Cup squad, he was shattered. The left-arm spinner, then a young left-arm pacer standing at five feet and six inches, missed the bus and was left wondering, ‘what next’?
Then came a conversation with his father, Yunus, which proved to be life-changing.
“I had been working really hard to make it to the Under 19 squad. As a youngster, you feel that if I don’t make it to the Under 19 squad, it will then be hard to make it to the international level or go to the next stage. I remember having a conversation with my dad and said to him, ‘Look, I tried really hard, worked very hard, got some results. But I didn’t get picked’. I was upset and was almost in tears. He said to me, ‘Look, everything that happens, happens for a reason. You got to find the silver lining’. That got me to explore what is the silver lining in this situation,” said Patel in an interview with IANS, organised by Amazon Prime Video.
Saying silver lining was one thing, but searching for it was another. Patel stumbled upon spin bowling, which he hadn’t tried before.
“Behind every bad reason, there is something good which is underlined it and you just got to find it. I went searching for it and realised my reason was probably the fact that I needed to do something different to get there. So, that got me to start thinking about spin bowling and everything else kind of unfolded from that. That was a massive conversation for me and something that has probably driven my journey to where I am today.”
Patel, who hadn’t bowled spin until his 21st birthday, embarked on a route that has now seen him become just the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to pick all ten wickets in an innings. The late bloomer’s fairytale moment against India at Mumbai, a place where he spent his early childhood, was all dreamlike. Behind the incredible feat were the effort and hard work put in transitioning from pace to spin.
“It has been a lot of hard work. I spent a lot of time developing the action and getting a good understanding of what certain parts of the action do to you when it comes to spin bowling. It was quite foreign to begin with. But as I continued to grow and learn the craft, I started to improve my own technique and started to tinker with things to kind of try and perfect it. I still kind of feel like there’s a lot more that I can do to improve. So, it’s just a gradual process and continue trying to get better with each time you get out.”
The transformation in Patel becoming a left-arm spinner needed expertise and support, something which came from three men: former Black Caps spinner Dipak Patel, former India U19 and Karnataka batter Barrington Rowland, now a cricket coach in Auckland and Heinrich Malan, his coach at Central Districts Stags when the now 33-year-old began his spin journey.
“Dipak Patel was massive in terms of the whole kind of technique aspect and learning what is exactly required from a technical point in terms of spin bowling. Barrington Rowland, who was my club coach here, provided me the support to feel comfortable in doing that and bowl some seam and then come back to bowling spin. When I grew further in my career, my domestic and first-class coach Heinrich Malan at that time, really honed my match awareness and the understanding of the game out there in the middle.”
“Now, I still bounce ideas between Dipak, Heinrich, Barry and Paul Wiseman (former New Zealand off-spinner turned coach). There are a lot of people who have got me to the point where I am right now and for that, I am thankful. That’s the thing about a cricketer’s journey; there are so many people who have influenced every cricketer on the way through. You probably may miss one or two names but you are trying to name all.”
Looking up to the future, New Zealand has two Tests against Bangladesh at home. Patel knows that his place in the playing eleven will be dictated by the conditions at home, which don’t favour spin as much as the sub-continent provides for, which means a change in role for spinners.
“The role is certainly different in New Zealand. I think, depending on the game situation, a lot of times you will probably see more of someone who can hold up an end while the seamers can attack from the other. You are probably somewhat limited by how much turn you are getting off the surface and how much response you getting from it.”
“In a sense, we have to dial back a little bit and try and just restrict as much as we can to try and see if squeeze a wicket through that. In the sub-continent, we can have a lot of fielders around the bat and put a lot of pressure on the batsman to try and hit the good balls. Whereas, over here, we set a lot of straight fields and bowl lots of dot balls.”
Talking further about the future, Patel sounded optimistic about New Zealand’s international cricket matches being broadcasted live on Amazon Prime Video in India. “That’s the way sports are moving forward now. I think live streaming allows you accessibility regardless of where you are. In the past, if you had to use the phone, you had to be sitting at home in front of the television. Now, you can be really anywhere to use your mobile and be able to view live matches, games and stuff like that. It certainly increases the accessibility of the people with live sports.”
Asked about what he is looking forward to watching on the streaming platform, Patel said, “I have had heard a lot about the Aussie series (The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team) in terms of Test matches and behind the scenes footage from their games. That is something I am really looking forward to watch at some stage.”
Patel signed off by saying he isn’t sure how his life story or ten-wicket haul in Mumbai will be adapted, either as a documentary, web series or feature film. “Not too sure. I think you guys know better than I do on how the best it will look. Honestly, it’s a very good question.”
Amazon Prime Video debuts in Live cricket streaming on January 1, 2022, after multiple years of being India’s most loved entertainment destination
–IANS
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