MUMBAI: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will visit the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday morning, along with former Kiwi batting great Ross Taylor and left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel.
Ajaz Patel has a special relationship with the Wankhede Stadium, which happens to be his favourite hunting ground in the world.
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The 36-year-old tweaker of Indian origin achieved a rare 'perfect 10' feat at the iconic venue in Dec 2021 when he took 10 for 119 in India's first innings of that Test. Overall, Patel took 14 for 225 in that match.
In November last year, Patel took 11 wickets-five for 103 and six for 57 to script the Kiwis' thrilling 25-run win in the third Test at the Wankhede, enabling New Zealand to win the series 3-0.
"We are pleased to inform you that the Prime Minister of New Zealand will be visiting Wankhede stadium on 20th March at 10:30 am. The MCA will felicitate the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He will be accompanied by renowned cricketers Ross Taylor and Ajaz Patel. As part of the visit, the Prime Minister will play a few balls on the main pitch, followed by a media interaction. We encourage you to join us in welcoming and felicitating our distinguished guests," the MCA said in a statement to the media.
A couple of days back, Luxon had humorously referred to the 2025 Champions Trophy final in Dubai, in which India beat New Zealand, and said that he and the Indian PM Narendra Modi had mutually agreed to avoid discussing the outcome of the match to prevent a “major diplomatic incident”.
New Zealand PM Luxon said, “I do want to say to the Prime Minister I really have appreciated him not raising another recent loss of New Zealand to India in the recent game that we played in Dubai. But I haven’t mentioned any of the Test series wins that we had on our recent trips to India either.”
During the press meet along with PM Modi, New Zealand’s PM Luxon added “So, let’s just keep it that way and avoid a major diplomatic incident.”
PM Modi was seen laughing during the banter mentioned by the New Zealand’s prime minister.
