Debut now in the offing for Patel At a glance
Just a week after his 30th birthday, Ajaz Patel’s longawaited Black Caps debut could now happen as soon as Thursday morning.
The Central Stags left-arm spinner was added to the New Zealand Twenty20 squad yesterday and appears a strong chance of donning his first black cap in game one against Pakistan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi (5am NZ time).
New coach Gary Stead boosted his squad to 13 last week with the additions of opener Glenn Phillips and allrounder Corey Anderson but they looked a spinner light with Ish Sodhi the only frontliner.
Patel impressed for New Zealand A in their recent 2-1 T20 series win over Pakistan A in the United Arab Emirates, taking 4-57 off 8.5 overs across the three matches at an impressive average of 14.25 and economy rate of 6.45.
‘‘It’s no secret that spin is crucial in this part of the world and with the wickets on the slower side, we’ve taken the option of a second spinner to bring our squad up to 14-players,’’ Stead said in a statement.
‘‘We’re fortunate that Ajaz has been playing over here for the past month and playing well, so he’ll be ready to go should he get his chance in the series.’’
Patel was named domestic player of the year at the New Zealand Cricket awards in April, and was equal third-highest wicket-taker in the T20 Super Smash with 13 at an average of 21.84 and economy rate of 8.07.
He earned his first national squad callup for the three-test series in the absence of Mitchell Santner (knee) and looked as if a potential debut would have to wait until the first test in Abu Dhabi on November 16.
Patel’s addition was confirmed after New Zealand’s
37-run victory over the UAE in their solitary warmup match yesterday.
Legspinner Sodhi took
2-11 off three overs as the UAE were restricted to 124-8, while captain Kane Williamson twirled down two overs of offspin and took 1-4.
Spin featured heavily for both Pakistan and Australia in their just-completed T20 series. Pakistan completed a
3-0 series sweep yesterday – a remarkable 10th successive
T20 series win for skipper Sarfraz Ahmed – skittling Australia for just 117 in Dubai, with legspinner Shadab Khan taking 3-19.