Ajaz Patel pleased with New Zealand’s first Pakistan Test

• Ajaz Patel is cautiously optimistic about New Zealand’s chances in the first Test.
• The Kiwis are in a great position after an unbeaten opening stand of 165 runs.
• He also lauded Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed after their 196-run partnership.

New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel is cautiously optimistic about his team’s chances in the first Test against Pakistan, which is currently going on in Karachi. He is also happy with how the Kiwis are doing so far.

After an unbeaten opening stand of 165 runs, New Zealand is in a great position to take a big lead in the first innings.

“The pitch is more conducive for batters as compared to pacers or spinners. We bowled well today which helped us improve our position in the match. The batters also did a good job. However, tomorrow is a big day for us,” Patel said during an exclusive interview private news channel

“We are not thinking about the lead at the moment since our first target is to equal Pakistan’s total in the first innings.

“We also need to see how the pitch behaves tomorrow morning. There is some moisture in the pitch in the morning session which helps the bowlers.”

He also lauded Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed after the duo’s 196-run partnership for the fifth wicket in the first innings.

“Babar and Sarfaraz batted really well yesterday. They took full advantage of the loose ball we bowled. We weren’t able to apply pressure on a consistent basis through dot balls,” he said.

Patel was born in Mumbai, so he can speak and understand Urdu. He also said that being able to speak the local language helps him during the match.

“I can understand their language so it is slightly easy to know Pakistan’s plans. Although, it does not make a big difference since as cricketers we should be able to understand a player’s plan even if we don’t speak the same language,” he said.

At the end of the second day, New Zealand had scored 165-0. In the first innings, the visitors are still behind by 273 runs.

At the end of play, Tom Latham had 78 runs and Devon Conway had 82. Neither of them had been out.

On the second day, it was hard for the Pakistan bowlers to put pressure on the New Zealand batters because the pitch was so easy to hit.

Pakistan’s first innings on Tuesday ended with them being out for 438 runs.

The hosts’ Babar Azam scored 161 and Agha Salman scored 103.

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