South Africa leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi has praised India’s passion for cricket, sharing a broadcast image that captured young cricketers practising on the training pitches near Wankhede Stadium during the 3rd and final test of the New Zealand tour of India 2024.
Tabraiz Shamsi highlighted the number of practice pitches set up to preserve and nurture young budding talents and also recalled his own experience at a spin training camp in India.
He remembered seeing children as young as five training for up to two to four hours every day.
“Can any country in the world compete with India when it comes to passion for the game of cricket? How many different pitches can you see here on one field? When we went there for a spinning camp, we’d see 5-year-olds coming for 2 to 4-hour training sessions every day,” Tabraiz Shamsi wrote on X.
Ajaz Patel’s performance at Wankhede continues to place him among the top visiting bowlers at venues in India. He picked up a five-wicket haul in India’s first innings with 263 runs.
Ajaz Patel has 19 wickets tally now only Ian Botham’s 22 at Wankhede. His efforts indicate his adaptability to Indian pitches, which have posed challenges for the Indian batting order throughout the series.
India scored a total of 263 runs with Shubman Gill scoring 90 runs while Rishabh Pant added 60 runs to help the side recover at Mumbai. Washington Sundar’s 38 runs question his batting position, as India’s lineup has struggled for consistency.
With the pitch becoming increasingly spin-friendly, New Zealand tried to pick an unfathomable lead at Mumbai but fell short to Indian bowlers, the hosts lost 9 wickets for 171 runs by the end of the day 02.
Will Young was the only scorer for the side smashing a half-century while Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips scored 22, 21 and 26 respectively in New Zealand’s second innings.
