MUMBAI: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday morning, along with former Kiwi batting great Ross Taylor, left-arm pace ace Trent Boult, who is set to turn out for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025, and left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel, who took a 'perfect ten' in a Test match against India at the iconic venue in December 2021.
In fact, the New Zealand PM took the Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) office-bearers and Apex Council by surprise by preponing the time of his visit from 10:30 am to 9:45 am.
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"Today, as the President of the Mumbai Cricket Association, it was an absolute honour to welcome Hon. Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, to the iconic Wankhede Stadium. During his visit, we took him through the rich legacy of Mumbai cricket, highlighting Wankhede’s role in shaping some of India’s greatest cricketers and its historic moments, including the 2011 World Cup victory. Given the deep cricketing ties between India and New Zealand, it was a proud moment to showcase how Mumbai continues to be a powerhouse of talent and passion for the game," MCA president Ajinkya Naik said.
The New Zealand PM seemed particularly pleased to see the name of Ajaz Patel on the honours board at the stadium. The veteran spinner has a special relationship with the Wankhede Stadium, which happens to be his favourite hunting ground in the world.
The 36-year-old tweaker of Indian origin achieved only the third 'perfect 10' in Test history at the iconic venue in December 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 runs 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.
Earlier this week, 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”.
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, 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.
Also present were the MCA's office-bearers and members of the apex council.
