loader

Rahul + Sachin makes Rachin

Barely two hours into his first Cricket World Cup match, Rachin Ravindra was thrown into the limelight by the New Zealand captain and asked to bowl against the tournament’s defending champions at the world’s biggest cricket stadium.

The 23-year-old from Wellington duly obliged and came on to bowl his left-arm spin in the 17th over of England’s innings.

KEEP READING
list of 4 items list 2 of 4

‘Where’s the crowd?’: Fans deride empty stadium at World Cup opening match

list 3 of 4

Unleash bowlers, scrap umpire’s call: Rules cricket needs to change

end of list

Three balls in, attacking England batter Harry Brook smacked away Ravindra’s third, fourth and fifth deliveries for two fours and a six.

Off the final delivery, Brook attempted another aerial shot but was caught by Ravindra’s hometown teammate Devon Conway.

The youngster had his first wicket in an ICC Cricket World Cup. He failed to take any more wickets and gave away 76 runs in his far-from-economical 10-over spell.

Rahul + Sachin makes Rachin.

The all-rounder would have to wait to showcase his skills with the bat and perhaps repay his India-born parents’ faith in naming him after the great Indian batters Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

“Back in the day when Mum and Dad were deciding on names, they liked Rahul and Sachin. So they took Ra from one and Chin from the other and named me Rachin,” he revealed in a pre-tournament interview with the World Cup broadcaster.

“Two amazing players and I’m very lucky to be named after them.”

Ravindra’s story came full circle as his cricket-mad parents watched him hit a World Cup century for New Zealand in their country of birth, India.

Player Of The Match

Back on the field in Ahmedabad, it didn’t take long for another opportunity to come by for Ravindra.

With his cricket-mad parents watching in the stands, Ravindra came on to bat less than 10 minutes into New Zealand’s innings.

The tall basketball-loving cricketer found himself batting at the position that is usually taken by New Zealand’s most prolific batter Kane Williamson, who is recovering from a knee injury.

Unfazed by the occasion and his failure to score off the first six balls, the curly-haired left-handed batter launched into an attack against England’s fast bowler Chris Woakes in the fifth over.

Thereon, Ravindra hit five sixes and 11 fours as he raced to an 82-ball-100 – New Zealand’s fastest World Cup century.

He finished his innings unbeaten on 123 and shared an unbroken 273-run partnership with his good friend Conway, who top-scored with 152.

12 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

© Copyright 2023 Newz Blog. All Right Reserved