8 Years After Frequently Travelling To India With Father-Owned Club, Rachin Ravindra Had Played A Match-Saving Innings On Test Debut

New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra has a connection with India not only limited to the two halves of his first name. If truth be told, the country has played a significant role in helping him become the cricketer that he is today. With his father’s roots belonging to the city of Bengaluru, the association becomes much more special considering how Ravindra’s first two major achievements in international cricket have been registered in India itself.

Before becoming a part of a record second-wicket ODI partnership during the opening match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 against England in Ahmedabad, the southpaw had played a major role in saving a Test match in India around two years ago.

While these are indeed two significant achievements in subcontinent conditions for a Kiwi batter so early in his career, a humble Ravindra would perhaps like to keep his head down considering that the very aim for his consistent visits to India had always been to get used to its spin-friendly pitches.

Rachin Ravindra Had Played A Match-Saving Innings On Test Debut

Making a Test debut in India especially for an non-Asian batter is no mean task. Ravindra, a prodigy who had already played two editions of ICC Under-19 World Cup by then, was up for the stern test and displayed stellar maturity and composure in a bid to eke out a draw for New Zealand in the first of a two-match series in November 2021.

While a Day 5 pitch at the Green Park did play out low and slow with not enough visible demons to trouble the batters, 10th-wicket pair of Ravindra and Ajaz Patel still had to survive an attacking and quality spin trio comprising Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel under fading light.

Owing to bad light, the day’s play did end 12 minutes before the scheduled time but not before the Kiwi pair had played out 52 deliveries to register a drawn Test in India for the first time since June 2018. While Ajaz had faced 23 balls during a 10-run stand, 22-year-old Ravindra faced 29 of those to walk back to the pavilion successfully on 18* (91) after having played out nearly 16 overs.

Moreover, the draw had meant that New Zealand had broken India’s longest-ever streak of 14 successive home Test results, with the previous longest one (13 successive results) being observed and played out between 1988 and 1994.

Rachin Ravindra Used To Frequently To India With Father-Owned Club

In order to provide exposure to serious cricketers in New Zealand to the different playing conditions in different parts of the world, including India, it is worth mentioning that Ravindra’s father Ravi Krishnamurthy had founded the Hutt Hawks Cricket Club in 2011.

Thus, since 2013, Ravindra’s trips to his ancestral home in Bengaluru weren’t just limited to regular family visits to the place for a few days. They turned out to be his unofficial tours to India where he would work on his batting skills, particularly on the art of playing on turning tracks.

“I kind of knew, unless Rachin [Ravindra] went out and got a good number of games as match practice, he won’t progress. The number of dropouts in cricket is staggering in New Zealand. We started Hutt Hawks, named after our suburb in Wellington, with a few like-minded guys. The idea was also to get these boys to enjoy travel on the road, the journey, the team spirit and mateship,” remarked Krishnamurthy, who also partially funds the overseas trips of his club players, during an interaction with ESPNcricinfo in 2018.

The Hutt Hawks’ touring party used to also consist of other New Zealand internationals such as Jimmy Neesham and Tom Blundell.