3rd Test: We might have a decent chance, says New Zealand's Ajaz Patel despite second innings collapse

Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS) Though his team was just 143 runs ahead with only one wicket in hand at the end of day two, New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel said they still have a chance of winning the third Test against India if they manage to score a few more runs and put the home batters in pressure in the fourth innings as the pitch is offering turn and variable bounce from both ends.

Patel, who claimed 5-103 to help his team bowl out India for 263 in the first innings after Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant had hammered 96 runs in quick time in the morning, restricting their lead to just 28 runs, was at the crease batting on seven New Zealand were reduced to 171/9 in their second innings.

"It's going to have to be whatever we score. We're going to have to try and do our best to restrict India and try and bowl them out, but it'll be interesting to see how the wicket continues to play tomorrow as well.

"The morning sessions have been a bit different to the afternoon sessions, so if the wicket continues to play like that, if we bowl well and do our best, I think we might have a decent chance," said Patel at the end of the second day's play on Saturday.

He said the fact that the ball was turning sharply from both ends and the bounce was variable would make things difficult for India.

"I think it's as you'd expect to be honest, it's turning quite sharply, it's I suppose inconsistent in terms of how much it does turn and bounce, but I suppose as a spinner it's encouraging as well. You know that you're going to get something out of the surface and for batting it's quite challenging, so I guess as a spinner it's about asking good questions and putting pressure on the batters for long periods of time," said Patel, who made into cricket folklore three years back at this same Wankhede Stadium when he became the third bowler after Jim Laker of England and Anil Kumble of India to claim all 10 wickets in a Test innings.

Patel said that the fact that the ball was turning from both ends was encouraging for his team.

"Certainly, it is starting to turn from both ends now, we saw obviously (Ravindra) Jadeja got plenty of turn there and then Ash (R Ashwin) got plenty of turn from the other end as well, so I think it is certainly turning from both ends, it's just the bounce is a little bit variable, so from a batting perspective that can be a challenge as well," he said.

Patel who came under attack from Rishabh Pant, who slammed him for three boundaries in the first over he bowled in the morning, said a bowler would have to just stick to putting the ball in the right areas when the batters were trying to be ultra-aggressive.

"Yeah, I think when you come to surfaces like this obviously there are two ways to bet on it. You can be ultra-defensive or ultra-aggressive. We saw some batters take some options and other batters take other options. So as a bowler, it's really about putting the ball in good areas for long periods of time and waiting if they're attacking, waiting for a mistake and something to happen off the surface or the surface to give you something," he added.

"But it is still Test cricket, it's still about patience, it's still about controlling what you can control, after you've let the ball go you have no idea what it's going to do. So it's just about keeping that simple," he said.

"Yeah, I guess this morning I felt like I bowled really well but Rishabh batted exceptionally. Obviously, he's been phenomenal throughout this tour and he's kind of the player that's put pressure back on us, regardless of the situation.

“So, as I said earlier, it's about keeping things simple, it's about controlling what you can control, if you put the ball in good areas and they play a good shot that's out of your control, so for me it was just trusting that.

“After lunch, we started to see a little bit more turn and a bit more assistance, so that's when that trust kind of paid off and then it was about keeping that consistency and keeping that going and making it as challenging as possible for batters and putting the ball in good areas for long periods," said Patel about his approach to bowling when Pant went hammer and tongs at him.

--IANS

bsk/