The opening day of the final and second Test between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, saw New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel come out on top. The spinner relished his dream homecoming after grabbing all the four wickets.

Patel finished the day with an impressive haul of 4/73 in 29 overs.

“This is what the dreams are made of, to be out here and go out there and pick up four wickets on the first day is pretty special,” he said during a virtual media interaction.

“I’m really, really lucky to be sitting here with four wickets and I’m pretty happy to be in my hometown. At the Wankhede, it was pretty special for me.”

Playing in India for the first time, the 33-year old, who had moved to New Zealand at the age of eight, turned it around for the visitors after a strong start by the Indian openers.

Patel first dismissed Shubman Gill (44) to break a strong opening stand at 80 and then dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara (0) and Virat Kohli (0) in the same over to leave the Indian top-order reeling.

From 80/3 just before the tea break, India bounced back in style, courtesy of an unbeaten 120 by Mayank Agarwal. The hosts finished the day on 221/4.

Even though Ajaz returned with four wickets under his belt, he said that the job is half done and they will fight hard for the remaining six wickets.

“The job is only half done. We got to make sure we turn up tomorrow and fight hard for the remaining six wickets. It’s quite evenly poised at the moment,” Ajaz said.

Patel said there is assistance from the pitch but it’s about bowling in the good areas consistently.

“Yes definitely, there’s assistance there for the spinners and we have got a bit more bounce than Kanpur. As a spinner, you want to bowl hard and put it in the right areas for a long period of time. It’s about keeping the game plan simple and using the wicket as much as possible.”

Patel completed his four-for after dismissing Kanpur Test hero Shreyas Iyer. With this, he broke an 80-run partnership between him and Mayank.

“For me, it was really important that even though it was turning, I still had to make sure my line, angle and the ball position was correct,” said the Kiwi star performer.

“From different angles, you got different levels of turn, some turned sharply and skidded on. I was looking to play around with that with the wicket being so responsive. It really challenged both sides of the edge.”

“The reality of test cricket is if you put the ball in good areas for a long period of time, you will see rewards back. It was my day today,” he concluded.