Watch: Ajaz Patel produced a terrific delivery to dismiss Ravichandran Ashwin early on the second day of the second India-New Zealand Test match, with Ashwin so shocked that he attempted to review the decision, despite having been bowled.
Ajaz would go on to take all ten wickets in the innings, with this arguably the pick of the bunch. The wicket came in the first over of the day, with Ajaz finding immediate success. The delivery before he dismissed Wriddhiman Saha, with Ashwin making a golden duck.
The Ashwin ball pitched on middle and leg stump and it seemed that Ashwin had the line covered. He got a good stride forward and looked to defend. However, the flight deceived him, meaning that he wasn’t to the pitch of the ball, which spun past the outside edge and left Ashwin bewildered. The moment occurred on the fifth ball of the 72nd over.
Strangely, Ashwin tried to review the dismissal as soon as the umpire nodded and gave him out. At first, the Indian thought that he was adjudged to have been caught behind. However, after seeing his stumps in a mess, he came to grips with Ajaz’s brilliance. The umpires, though, still opted for an ‘umpire review’ – perhaps to confirm that the ball had actually hit the stumps and that Tom Blundell had not mistakenly whipped off the bails with his gloves. Or perhaps just to watch the beautiful piece of bowling once more in slow motion.
