India vs New Zealand Tests 2021: India Win 1-0 — Ajaz Patel Takes All 10 Wickets at Wankhede, Ashwin Player of Series

India won the New Zealand Test series 2021 by 1-0 across 2 Tests — 1st Test at Green Park Stadium, Kanpur was drawn; 2nd Test at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai was won by India by 372 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin won Player of the Series with 14 wickets. The series is defined by Ajaz Patel (New Zealand) taking all 10 wickets in India's first innings at Wankhede — 10/119 — only the third bowler in Test history to take all 10 wickets in one innings. Ajinkya Rahane captained India in the Kanpur 1st Test (Kohli rested); Virat Kohli returned to captain the Wankhede 2nd Test. Kane Williamson captained New Zealand in both Tests.

Ajaz Patel 10/119 at Wankhede: Third Bowler in Test History to Take All 10 Wickets

Ajaz Patel taking all 10 wickets in India's first innings at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai) — 10/119 in 47.5 overs, match figures 14/225 — placed the New Zealand left-arm spinner alongside Jim Laker (England vs Australia, Old Trafford 1956, 10/53) and Anil Kumble (India vs Pakistan, Feroz Shah Kotla 1999, 10/74) as the only three bowlers in all of Test cricket history to take all 10 wickets in a single innings. Ajaz Patel's 10-wicket innings carried an additional layer of significance: Patel was born in Mumbai — the city where the Wankhede is located — having emigrated to New Zealand with his family as a child. A Mumbai-born bowler taking all 10 wickets against India at the ground in his home city is among Test cricket's most layered individual achievement stories. Patel's match figures of 14/225 — combining his 10 first-innings wickets with 4 in the second — were the best match figures in an India-New Zealand Test. Despite Patel's historic haul, New Zealand lost the 2nd Test by 372 runs — India's batting (led by Mayank Agarwal's 242 runs across the series) and Ashwin's bowling counteracting Patel's achievement.

Ashwin 14 Wickets: India's Spinner as Player of the Series Despite Patel's Historic Innings

Ravichandran Ashwin taking 14 wickets across the 2-Test series — the most wickets for India and more than any New Zealand bowler despite Patel's 10-wicket innings (Patel's 14 match wickets were entirely in one match; Ashwin's were spread across both) — gave the Player of the Series award to India's off-spinner rather than Patel. Ashwin's series performance — his off-spin exploiting sub-continent conditions across both Kanpur and Wankhede while India's batting built the large totals that eventually gave India a 372-run margin of victory in Mumbai — reflected how Patel's 10/119 was the series' most remarkable individual moment without being the series' most influential sustained performance (Ashwin contributing across both Tests while Patel's match figures came in a losing cause at Wankhede). New Zealand had won the ICC World Test Championship Final against India at Southampton just 5 months earlier (June 2021), making the India vs NZ 2021 bilateral series a direct bilateral rematch between the two WTC finalists — India winning the rematch 1-0 after losing the WTC Final.

India vs New Zealand Tests 2021 in Context

The India vs New Zealand Test series 2021 — November-December 2021, Green Park Kanpur and Wankhede Mumbai — produced India winning 1-0 with the defining individual moment being Ajaz Patel's 10/119 at Wankhede (only the third time all 10 wickets in one innings has been taken in Test history) despite India winning that Test by 372 runs. Ashwin's Player of the Series (14 wickets), Patel's historic haul, Iyer's debut century at Kanpur, and India's 372-run Mumbai win gave the 2-Test series an unusual density of landmark moments. The series confirmed India's sub-continent dominance in home bilateral Tests while showing New Zealand — despite Patel's individual achievement — unable to convert the 10-wicket innings into a match win (Patel's 10 wickets in the first innings gave New Zealand hope; India's response and Ashwin's second innings bowling shut the match).