Gujarat: Bharuch village basks in glory of Ajaz Patel’s historic feat

SURAT: At around 1pm on Saturday, as India and New Zealand teams applauded Ajaz Patel’s historic 10-wicket in an innings feat at Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium, a tiny village in Bharuch with a population of around 4,500 too basked in the glory.
Now settled in New Zealand, left-arm spinner Ajaz’s family hails from the Kantharia village. On Saturday, Patel became only the third bowler in Test cricket history to achieve a perfect-10.
Mohammad Musa Kapadia, maternal grandfather of Ajaz said that he was delighted at the feat.“All of us are overjoyed by what Ajaz has achieved. He has made a place for himself in cricketing history,” said Kapadaia, brother of Ajaz’s maternal grandmother.
Describing his early days, Kapadia said that after moving to New Zealand Ajaz used to play with his uncle Saeed Patel, who works as coach in a local cricket league there. Kapadia, who hails from Bharuch, is also a permanent resident of New Zealand. He has been living in Bharuch for the last one year due to Covid restrictions.
“Every family member is proud of Ajaz. That he achieved the feat at his birthplace is like icing on the cake. We are trying to meet him but due to Covid-19 restrictions we are yet to get permission,” said Ajaz’s uncle Akeel Patel. Akeel is the younger brother of Ajaz’s mother, Shehnaz.
Ajaz’s father Yunus, who used to run an electronics sales and service business in Mumbai’s Jogeshwari area, migrated to New Zealand in 1996. Yunus now runs a tyre business in Auckland.
“Ajaz practices really hard to make his game perfect. He has two younger sisters,” said Akeel, who runs a car rental business in Mumbai. All brothers of Yunus are settled in NZ.
“Ajaz is a wonderful cricketer. After his selection in the Kiwi team, we invited him to be the chief guest for one of our local tournaments. But due to a busy schedule he couldn’t make it. I attended his marriage in Mumbai and I am happy for him,” said Arif Bapuji, a relative of Ajaz.
Not just the family members but every villager cheered for Ajaz, said Yaqub Dudhwala, a farmer from Kantharia. “All in the village are happy that the boy whose family hails from our village secured 10 wickets in an innings,” said Dudhwala.
(With inputs from Bharat Yagnik in Ahmedabad)