Praying between Innings All Part of Ajaz Patel's Black Caps Journey
By Margot Butcher/Photosport
Ajaz Patel, 29, got the call up from the Black caps selectors a week ago and says he had never ruled that out.
Setting his alarm for prayer at 6am probably won't make Black Caps spin bowler Ajaz Patel the perfect room-mate on tour.
But after receiving his first New Zealand test cricket squad call-up at the age of 29, he insists the early prayers have paid off.
Patel, believed to be the first Muslim to play for the Black Caps, will have a busier schedule than most of his team-mates.
Back Cap spin bowler Ajaz Patel says being a Muslim in cricket has its challenges and requires keeping on top of his schedule.
Without fail he prays five times a day, visits the mosque once a week and fasts for an entire month, once a year.
For Patel, however, fitting in prayer between innings and hydrating after dark is just part and parcel of what he does and it's never hindered his cricketing career.
"Sometimes it can be a little bit tough... You don't really want to disturb your room-mates or disturb their routine, but overall everyone has been really accommodating and understanding," he said.
Patel doesn't drink a drop of alcohol either. Left waiting for him in the changing rooms at the end of a match is soft drink, which does the trick, he says.
"Everyone is really respectful of what everyone believes in. I think in modern times people are a lot more understanding and accommodating to different people's beliefs and different people's faiths."
The left-arm spinner played cricket since he was a child and never encountered major issues when practicing his faith. But having chosen a sport that takes up the better half of a day, cricket and Islam is a juggling act.
Like many other Kiwi Muslims (just under 50,000 according to the 2013 census), Patel schedules prayer into his day and once a year he fasts for 30 days for Ramadan - the ninth month of the Islamic calendar observed by Muslims as a month of fasting.
His job as a first-class cricketer requires him to be on a strict diet requiring energy to perform his role for the Central Stags and now for his country, when he tours the United Arab Emirates to face Pakistan in a potential test debut in November.
Fasting is more of a mental challenge for Patel than a physical one, but his belief helps him through it and he has never found it alters his on-field performance - although he hasn't yet been through a Ramadan in the summer months or peak season for cricket. Next year it falls in May.
"It keeps you level and makes you appreciate what you do have. A little bit of hardship and a little bit of sacrifice, but you understand that there are people living with those conditions every day of their life.
"You become really appreciative of what you do have and you don't take for granted the water or the food you do get on a daily basis. It's a nice check every year or so.
"You do kind of struggle with training in daylight hours to a certain extent. But what I try to do is I tend to manage it around and reshuffle my trainings to the evening times easier done. Just a bit of time management.
"If you asked me to fast any other day without being a religious reason, for no reason in particular, I would probably struggle and stop halfway through the day. But there is a reasoning behind why I am doing it, so it makes it a little easier."
"I have never run in to anything negative related to it, if I want to pray I pray quite comfortably in the room and everyone just respects that."
Patel doesn't see himself as a role model for young Muslims, but said if he can inspire anyone to follow their dreams and stick to their beliefs then he would be proud of that.
He says Muslim athletes such as All Black Sonny Bill Williams are great because he brought the topic of religion and sport to the forefront.
"He has been fantastic in terms of creating that awareness around religion and sport. Generally relating awareness for all religions.
"It is almost like an afterthought nowadays and I like that he has brought that to the forefront to a certain extent that religion does play an important part in our lives."
Patel wasn't expecting to get the Black Caps call-up, but never ruled out the possibility either. He says aside from his faith, he thanks his mother and father Shahnaz and Yunus, wife Nilofer and younger sisters Sanaa, and Tanzeel. The family emigrated from Mumbai to Auckland in the late 1990s.
"I am always grateful for every achievement and even a setback for myself, everything happens for a reason and whatever is destined. I have just got to put the hard work in and leave the rest up to God." - stuff
