Dec 6, 2021 - Sports
Rare cricket feat: New Zealand's Ajaz Patel takes 10 wickets vs. India
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Ajaz Patel. Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Ajaz Patel, a bowler for New Zealand's cricket team, took all 10 wickets in an innings this weekend against India in Mumbai.
Why it matters: Patel is just the third bowler in Test cricket's 150-year history to accomplish this feat — which could be translated to "recording all 10 outs," in baseball parlance.
How it works: Test matches last up to five days, broken into four innings, with each side batting twice.
- An innings is complete when 10 batsmen have been dismissed, most commonly when a hit is caught out of the air or the ball hits the wicket.
- By rule, multiple bowlers must be used in an innings — usually between four and six — so it's rare for just one to take all 10 wickets.
- Of note: There have been 2,439 Test matches in history, meaning this happens once every 813 games. It's an anomaly, but it's no perfect game (23 in 218,400 games = one every 9,495 games).
Between the lines: Despite Patel's historic performance, India is dominating New Zealand in the Test, leading by nearly 400 runs with half an innings left.
