Owe it Rangana Herath, says New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel after whitewash of India

New Delhi: His headline-grabbing performance in New Zealand’s 3-0 whitewash of India was due to sound counsel from their spin coach Rangana Hearth, says Ajaz Patel.

The left-arm tweaker spun a web around Indian batters as the home team plunged to an unprecedented clean sweep. Patel was the leading wicket-taker for New Zealand with 15 scalps and said Herath’s inputs helped him immensely.

A left arm spinner in his playing days, Herath retired recently after taking 433 wickets in 93 Tests for Sri Lanka and took on the job of spin consultant of the Black Caps.

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“Obviously he’s got a wealth of experience in the subcontinent, and his record kind of speaks for itself, really, in terms of left-arm spin bowling. So I mean, for me, it was great to have him because we’re quite similar, I guess, in terms of the style of bowling that we both bowl,” Patel told Cricbuzz.

“But I think the biggest thing was, he gave us a really good idea around the kind of fields to set in terms of Asian conditions and still be attacking, but also at the same time, have our options to limit the boundaries as well.”

Preparation and adaptability

The 36-year-old said the Kiwis were well prepared for the India tour, and willing to adapt to different conditions on way to registering one of their best Test series triumphs.

In all the three venues of Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, Kiwi spinners Patel, Mitchell Santner with Glenn Phillips troubled the Indian batters.

“If I’m honest with you, we had a great winter back home where we prepared on turning wickets and we made sure we had different surfaces that we tried and practised on so we were, I guess, conditioned to bowling on different surfaces as well.

“So yeah it’s a lot to do with preparation but then it’s also about backing your skills and kind of I guess you know going out there and doing it really,” he said.