Behind Rachin Ravindra’s World Cup success, a yearly India tour with the club side owned his father | Cricket-world-cup News

As chants of “Rachiiiiin, Rachiiiin,” resounded around the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, TA Balakrishna Adiga, a noted education from south Bangalore, was struggling to hold back his emotions with wife and daughter the side. After all, his grandson Rachin Ravindra, playing only his first-ever World Cup, had managed to do what no New Zealander has ever done before – three centuries in a single edition. And as he walked back to a thunderous applause after making a 94-ball 108, which takes his tally in the tournament to 523 runs, equalling what Sachin Tendulkar made in the 1996 edition, Adiga was a proud thaatha in every true sense. Rachin’s tally is also the most a player less than 25 at a World Cup.
Follow all the action from the Cricket World Cup 2023 on our special World Cup section. You can also find the latest stats, like the top scorer and the highest wicket-taker of the current edition, upcoming World Cup fixtures and the points table on the site.
This has been a coming of age World Cup for Rachin. Had Kane Williamson been fit and available for the initial part of New Zealand’s campaign, there was a strong chance that Rachin would have spent most of his time here warming the bench. With Devon Conway and the in-form Will Young at the top, Rachin boarded the flight to India, only as a back-up batting option. But eight matches into their campaign, it is the 23-year-old Rachin who has stood out as Kiwis flag-bearer.

After starting the tournament with a bang courtesy an unbeaten 123 against England and another 116 against Australia, on Saturday in a must-win fixture against Pakan, Rachin, who has his roots in Bangalore, brightened New Zealand’s semi-final prospects with a 94-ball 108. Although this was his first international outing in Bangalore, this is a city that he is familiar with. Every year he accompanies his parents when they visit ‘home’ for a month or so, during which time he also plays club cricket apart from spending time with his cousins.
When cricket comes to a standstill during the winter in New Zealand, India – especially the south has been Rachin’s destination since he was a 14-year-old. Barring 2018, when he had Under-19 commitments, he would be part of the Hutt Hawks Cricket Club’s (run his father Ravi Krishnamurthy) touring party, which comes to India every year to play matches in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Anantapur and Vizag. Even this year, almost two years after becoming a Black Cap, Rachin landed in Hyderabad in July, played five matches, before heading back to Wellington, where he is based.
Making an early impression
Even as the rest of the world is astonished how well Rachin has grabbed the opportunity at the World Cup, those who know him say it has been the story of his career — since he was a 15-year-old when he made it to the Wellington Under-19 team. “There were plenty of older kids, but still we took a chance with him based on his talent and he ended up being the top three run-getter and wicket-takers l. And that’s how at 16 he made the youngest New Zealand player to feature in a U-19 World Cup,” Sriram Krishnamurthy, who coached him during his formative years at Wellington province tells The Indian Express.
That tournament, Sriram, recalls was the one where Wellington began to realise there is a ‘Black Cap in the making’. “He was scoring centuries and was picking wickets. And quite soon, he became the talk of the town that whatever he is doing now doesn’t come as a surprise. Because even back then as a 15-year-old he was comfortably playing the 19-year-olds, which gave us the confidence to include him for the 2016 U-19 World Cup,” Sriram says.
For a player who had just 189 runs to his name at an average of 23.62 before the tournament began, Rachin has taken the World Cup storm. With a compact technique in place and timing being the key aspect of his batting, with Conway not at his fluent best, it is Rachin who has been proving them with rapid starts at the top. On Saturday, it was no different, as he quelled any sort of threat that Pakan fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali offered with the new ball, before constructing another wonderfully crafted century.
“It is not surprising one bit that he has already scored three centuries. But what surprises me is the authoritative way he has gone about those. He was never in line to bat up the order, but once he got the opportunity and with the batting depth they have, he has played with a lot of freedom. It is the role he is accustomed to because he is used to opening for Wellington. He has always been an accumulator, but not this authoritative, which just shows how much he has matured as a player. He feels liberated batting at the top,” Sriram adds.
You can try your hand at solving our Cricket World Cup crosswordMost Read
1
Sunny Deol says he doesn’t like how Shah Rukh Khan has turned actors into a ‘commodity’, Salman has made them into ‘bodybuilders’

2
Aishwarya Rai cuts birthday cake at an event with daughter Aaradhya Bachchan, refuses to eat as she is observing Karva Chauth. Watch video

See More

After losing Conway just after the first powerplay, Rachin ensured the returning Williamson got the time he needed to find his groove. Cover-drives, flicks, sweeps, lofted shots over mid-wicket gave Rachin 15 boundaries and a six. And in each of those bore the stamp of authority. Sriram attributes it to the numerous club matches he has played in these parts.
“He has those sub-continental wrs, which isn’t surprising because he has built his game here as well. The club has ensured these exposure trips truly remain one as they play on all sorts of surfaces. So he is used to playing on rank-turners, slow pitches and flat decks. And the tracks that New Zealand have played so far have been good, batting friendly ones, which are definitely way easier than what he grew up playing on,” says Sriram, who is the head coach of Chennai Super Kings Academy now.
During the weeklong stopover in Chennai where New Zealand defeated Bangladesh and Afghanan, Sriram and his old ward in the company of his parents, caught up in the city over a meal. While the discussions did venture into cricket, Sriram says it was all cliché. “Whenver we speak, it is all about reminding him about the timing aspect. When he get the timing right, everything falls in place. Just like today,” Sriram says.