'He's just kept getting better and better' - Ajaz Patel reveals toughest batter he has bowled to [Exclusive]

Published - 07 Sept 2025, 15:07 IST | Updated - 07 Sept 2025, 15:07 IST

Ajaz Patel has not played too often for New Zealand as the Kiwis have mostly used him in Test matches in the subcontinent. However, he has produced some memorable performances against some of the best batters in world cricket.

During an exclusive interview with CricTracker, Ajaz named Joe Root as the toughest batter he has bowled to in Test cricket. He also picked Auckland's Aditya Ashok as one young spinner he is excited about. Furthermore, Ajaz explained how challenging it is to bowl to Indian batters like Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, and others.

Ajaz, who has picked up 11 wickets from seven T20Is at an average of 10.73, also said that he would love to play for Mumbai Indians (MI) if he gets an opportunity in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Yeah, I guess in Test cricket, I've been fortunate to play against a few teams so far. One guy who really sticks out is Joe Root. As a spinner, just the way he goes about accumulating runs and building his innings. He's a difficult person to bog down. He's a difficult person to kind of build dots on. And that's what makes him so dangerous because your good balls go for one and your bad balls go for four. So it's kind of like, where does the pressure kind of let off? But also in the last kind of 12 months to 24 months, he's just kept getting better and better. So, yeah, it's quite amazing to watch, and he's certainly very talented.

Yeah, I think up and coming, I guess, Aditya Ashok from Auckland. He's a young leg spinner. He's very, very talented, and I think in the future, we will get to see a lot more of him, and he's certainly got a lot of good things about him, and he'll continue to develop and grow, and I think he'll, in the future, be a very big asset for New Zealand cricket.

That's a tough one because, you know, in all honesty, I think all of the Indian batters are quite tough to bowl to. They're all phenomenal players, and I guess they all offer different challenges. I mean, we spoke about someone like Rishabh, who is quite unorthodox but very aggressive and then, I guess, at the top of the order currently, you've got guys like Jaiswal, who also is very aggressive, but then you've got the elegance and class of Shubman Gill and then, obviously, you've got Virat and Rohit, who have been phenomenal throughout their careers and just exceptional world-class players. So, I guess every batter offers a different challenge, and so they've all been challenging at different times.

Oh, that's an easy one. I'm a Mumbai boy at heart, so I guess if I had the opportunity, I would love to be a part of Mumbai and, you know, it's a place that's dear to my heart and, obviously, Wankhede has been very good to me, so, yeah, that would be an easy one.

Ajaz Patel explains challenges of bowling to Rishabh Pant

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