In the second Test, Ravichandran Ashwin worked his magic with the ball in hand, spinning a web around the New Zealand batters as India cruised to a massive 372-run win, clinching a 1-0 series victory over the visitors. Ajaz Patel of New Zealand, on the other hand, drew attention by taking all ten wickets in India’s first innings. Ajaz Patel became the talk of the town after becoming only the third player in Test cricket history to do so. However, as the dust settled on Ajaz Patel’s heroics, many people noticed that his Twitter account was unsurprisingly unverified. Ashwin stepped forward to assist his fellow spinner.
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Taking 10 wickets in an innings “definitely deserves” a blue tick, the India off-spinner tweeted to the ‘The Verified blue badge source’ page.
There aren’t many people who disagree with Ashwin, and Twitter wasn’t going to be one of them. Ajaz Patel’s Twitter account soon had the coveted ‘blue tick’.
On his part, Ashwin expressed gratitude to the social media platform for taking his advice.
In the second Test, Ashwin was almost unplayable at times, taking a total of eight wickets in a nightmare for the New Zealanders in Mumbai. While Ashwin shone for India, Ajaz Patel’s valiant efforts were in vain as New Zealand’s batters succumbed to India’s spin threat.
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Ajaz, who took all ten wickets in the first innings, added four more in the second to finish with match figures of 14 for 225 runs. These were also the best figures for any bowler against India in Test cricket history, surpassing Ian Botham’s previous best of 13 wickets for 106 runs.
Ashwin, too, had a track record. For the most number of times, the 34-year-old has surpassed Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in taking 50 or more Test wickets in a calendar year.
Ashwin passed Harbhajan to become India’s third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket during the first Test in Kanpur last month.
