"He had a fine touch to his bowling" - Saeed Ajmal commends Axar Patel over his impressive performance in the first Test vs New Zealand

Former Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal has lauded Axar Patel for spinning a web against New Zealand batters in the first Test at Kanpur. The 44-year old mentioned that Patel looked in fine touch and used variations in his bowling to good effect.

With his clever display of left-arm spin, Patel outfoxed the Kiwi batters to return with his fifth five-wicket haul. While commending Patel's performance, Saeed Ajmal mentioned that he bowled from wicket to wicket and made it hard for the batters to play their shots.

"The bowling Axar Patel did in the first inning was great," Ajmal said in his YouTube video. "He had a fine touch to his bowling and if spoken from a spinner's perspective, he showcased some excellent bowling. He bowled from wicket to wicket and tried hard so that the batsmen could not play shots. He had a good pace variation because of which he had that success. He bowled brilliantly as well in the last series and Ashwin supported him with everything."

This was the sixth successive instance of Patel taking four+ wickets in an innings - no other Indian bowler has done so in more than four consecutive innings.

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Shreyas Iyer and Saha pulled back things in India's favor: Saeed Ajmal

The partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Wriddhiman Saha was a crucial one for India in the second innings

Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson put the hosts under tremendous pressure in the morning session on Day 4 when the duo reduced them for 51-5. But thanks to the crucial partnerships between Ravichandran Ashwin-Shreyas Iyer and Wriddhiman Saha-Shreyas Iyer, the hosts made a strong comeback in the game.

Along with Ashwin (32), both Iyer (65) and Saha (61*) went on to pile up 60+ runs. Axar Patel's 28* also helped in putting together a target of 284 runs for New Zealand.

In his video, Ajmal praised Shreyas Iyer and Wriddhiman Saha for pulling things back in their side's favor.

"At one point it seemed as if India was in a tough situation but Shreyas Iyer and Wriddhiman Saha supported the team excellently," Ajmal said. "They pulled things back in India's favor. And in the end Patel came and did some good batting and set a good total for New Zealand."