Rachin Ravindra made perfect use of his promotion in the New Zealand batting order to slam his maiden century and guide his team to a sensational win over England in the Cricket World Cup 2023 opener in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The 23-year-old was sent to bat at No.3 in the absence of Kane Williamson and he went on to score an unbeaten 123 off just 93 deliveries. The partnership with Devon Conway meant that England had no chance of a fightback in the game and New Zealand started their campaign on a thumping note. While Ravindra’s parents both hail from India, his name actually comes from two Indian cricket team batting legends – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
According to various media reports, Rachin’s name was inspired by Rahul Dravid (Ra) and Sachin Tendulkar (Chin) as his father was a huge fan of the two legends. The youngster started his cricketing journey quite early and was included in the New Zealand U-19 squad for the 2016 World Cup.
He took part in the 2018 U-19 World Cup as well and in 2021, he made his T20I debut against Bangladesh. He made his Test debut soon after and his ODI debut in 2023.
Till now, he has played 3 Tests, 12 ODIs, and 18 T20Is and against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup 2023 match, he impressed everyone with a brilliant 97-run knock.
Put into bat, England made 282-9, a total New Zealand overhauled with 13.4 overs to spare courtesy of an unbeaten 273-run stand between left-handers Conway (152) and Ravindra (123) in Ahmedabad.
(With AFP inputs)
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