It isn’t uncommon for players of Indian origin to play for New Zealand. The likes of Ish Sodhi, Jeetan Patel, Jeet Raval etc. have represented the Kiwis over the course of the nation’s cricketing history.
As New Zealand took on India in the 1st T20I of the 3-match series in Jaipur, another player of Indian origin found a place in their playing XI. That player was Rachin Ravindra.
Rachin is a 21-year-old all-rounder who has been named after two Indian cricket greats — Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Rachin was born in Wellington to Indian parents — Ravi Krishnamurthy who is a software system architect and Deepa Krishnamurthy.
Rachin’s father, Ravi, had moved from Bangalore to New Zealand in 1990s and is the founder of Hutt Hawks Club. In fact, Ravi is also a fond admirer of cricket and has played the sport in Bengaluru.
Speaking of his son, Rachin has represented New Zealand in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup as well as the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He has played a total of 6 T20Is for the Kiwis, making his debut against Bangladesh in the series earlier this year in September.
He was even selected in the New Zealand squad for the World Test Championship final against India at Lord’s but didn’t make it to the playing XI.
“I’ve trained, played at RDT (Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh) every year in the last four years during our winter,” he had told Telangana Today.
One of the coaches at the Andhra Pradesh cricket academy, Khatib Syed Shahabuddin, has also spoken highly of the Kiwi player.
“He (Rachin Ravindra) was part of the Hutt Hawks contingent that used to train at the Rural Development Trust at Anantapur for the last four years. He is a promising cricketer. As a young cricketer, he showed a lot of promise and hunger to excel as a left-handed bat and left-arm spin.”
Speaking of his idols himself, Rachin had told Stuff.co.nz back in November 2016 that he has tried to emulate the batting style of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
“My batting idol is Sachin Tendulkar. I have modelled my game on him since I was very young,” Rachin had said.
When it comes to his career in the shortest format of the game overall, Rachin has played a total of 27 matches (excluding the Jaipur T20I), scoring 338 runs at a strike rate of 129 and a best of 40.
He is also a handy bowler who can deliver left-arm spin. With the ball, Ravindra has claimed 25 wickets at a strike rate of 21.6.
