Ajaz Patel was born in Mumbai on 21st October 1988. He migrated to New Zealand with his family when he was eight years only. Initially, in his early days, Ajaz was a left-arm medium pacer. Being 5 ft 6 inch tall the cricketer wanted to stick to pace bowling later realized he would not be able to establish himself as a fast bowler with this height at the international level. Even though spin bowling looked like fun to him that time, Ajaz ultimately settled him as a left-arm spinner.

His debut in Test cricket was exciting for the spinner as he had revealed that along with his family members he started having dinner one night. Within minutes he received phone calls from one of the selectors and came to know that he had been selected in the New Zealand squad for the Test.

Ajaz Patel made his debut in first-class cricket in a Plunket Shield match against Wellington in 2012. He drew attention in his maiden appearance, claiming 3 wickets for 62 runs in 21 overs in the first innings while failed to earn a wicket in the second innings from his 19 overs, giving away 47 runs. Ajaz’s best form was exposed within the next four years as he became the leading wicket-taker in first-class cricket for three years. Having begun his stint in the 'List A' cricket in 2015 Ajaz Patel captured the maximum wickets in the Plunket Shield with 43 dismissals. In the following year also, this left-arm spinner had claimed 44 wickets to finish as the leading wicket-taker in domestic cricket. The year 2018 was significant for Ajaz Patel. His superb show with the ball, claiming 48 wickets in 9 matches in the Plunket Shield compelled the national selectors to spot him for the nation and factually Ajaz received the call from senior selector Gavin Larsen. In the same year, Ajaz was declared ‘Men’s Domestic Player of The Year’ at the New Zealand cricket’s annual function.

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Ajaz Patel made his debut in the first Test of the series against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi in 2018. He bagged 2 wickets for 64 runs in the first innings in his 24 overs while in the second innings Patel made havoc, capturing five wickets for 59 runs, having bowled 23.4 overs guiding New Zealand to secure 4-run victory. Playing in eight Tests the 33-year-old spinner has earned 22 wickets at an average of 33.31 where his best figure in a match has been 7 wickets for 123 runs.

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Ajaz Patel was named in New Zealand’s One-Day International squad during the same series in 2018. But he did not play. Rather he made his debut in Twenty20 International against Pakistan in New Zealand’s same tour in a resemblance his coach Dipak Patel had begun his journey in the 1992 ODI World Cup at the age of 30. In the first T20I at Abu Dhabi Patel was able to earn only 1 wicket for 27 runs in 4 overs. He has participated in two T20Is so far and claimed only one wicket. Otherwise, Patel has taken part in 49 T20 matches and garnered 57 wickets where his best figure has been 3 wickets for 20 runs only.

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