Mumbai-born New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel was pleased after his dream homecoming as he grabbed all the four wickets on the first day of the second Test here.
Patel finished the day with an impressive haul of 4/73 in 29 overs before Mayank Agarwal's unbeaten 120* (14 fours and 4 sixes) boosted India.
"Pretty cool," the Kiwi spinner said of his day's work during a virtual press conference after the stumps. "This is what dreams are made of. To be out here and pick up four wickets on the first day is pretty special. At the same time, the job is only half done. So we have got to make sure we turn up tomorrow and really work hard for the last six wickets."
"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."
Patel first dismissed Shubman Gill (44) and then took the prized scalps of Cheteshwar Pujara (0) and Virat Kohli (0) in the same over to rattle the Indian top-order.
When the partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agrawal reached 80, Patel struck again when he had Iyer caught behind for a 41-ball 18.
Patel said there is assistance from the pitch but it's about bowling in the good areas consistently.
"There is definitely assistance out there for spin bowling. And we have got more bounce than we haInd vs NZ: This is what dreams are made of, says Ajaz Patel after four-ford in Kanpur. So as a spinner you still want to bowl and work hard and put it in the good area for a long time. It is really about keeping the game plan really simple and using the wicket as much as possible," the spinner said.
"Test cricket is really about keeping it simple and consistently hitting good areas over a long period of time and challenging the batsmen over a long period."
"Tomorrow's game plan is very simple. Try and restrict them as much as possible. Bowl a lot of good balls. Force them to hit good balls as opposed to allowing them to hurt us with the bad ones. We just need to make sure we are consistent and in good areas for long periods of time," he pointed.
With the help of Agarwal's 4th Test ton, India ended day-1 of the 2nd and final Test at 221/4. Agarwal is currently unbeaten at 120 while Wriddhiman Saha was not out on 25.
( With inputs from ANI )
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