Rachin Ravindra

Rachin Ravindra is a New Zealand international cricketer. He made his international debut for the New Zealand cricket team in September 2021. In December 2023, Rachin Ravindra was signed by the Chennai Super Kings in the player auction for the 2024 Indian Premier League.

Early life:

• Rachin Ravindra was born in Wellington on 18 November 1999 to parents from Bangalore. His father Ravi Krishnamurthy, a software architect, played club-level cricket in Bangalore before settling in New Zealand in 1997.
• Rachin Ravindra’s first name was reported to be a portmanteau of the first names of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, but his father, while acknowledging the portmanteau, dismissed it as coincidence.
• His grandfather Balakrishna Adiga is a renowned educationist in India.
• He began his cricket journey after being influenced by Sachin Tendulkar since childhood. Rachin Ravindra began playing cricket in Wellington at the age of five, and traveled to Bangalore every year to play club cricket.

Domestic Career:

• Rachin was a part of New Zealand’s squads for the 2016 and the 2018 under – 19 World Cups. Following the conclusion of the 2018 edition, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Rachin Ravindra as one of the rising stars of the competition.
• List A debut for New Zealand A against Pakistan A in October 2018
• First – class debut: for New Zealand A against the same side later in the month.
• In November 2019, batting for Wellington against Auckland in the 2019 – 20 Ford Trophy, he scored his first century in List A cricket.
• In March 2020, in round six of the 2019 – 20 Plunket Shield season, he scored his maiden century in first – class cricket.

International Career:

• T20I debut: on 1 September 2021, against Bangladesh
• Test debut on 25 November 2021, for New Zealand against India
• In June 2022, he was signed by Durham County Cricket Club to play in the County Championship in England.
• Later that month, on his debut for Durham, he scored a century against Worcestershire. He went on to convert that into his maiden double century, scoring 217 runs.
• ODI debut: for New Zealand against Sri Lanka, on 25 March 2023
• In February 2024, during the first Test of South Africa’s tour of New Zealand, batting at No. 4, Rachin scored 240, his maiden Test century. It is the highest maiden Test century by a New Zealand batter.

Major Achievements:

• Following the conclusion of the 2018 edition, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Rachin Ravindra as one of the rising stars of the competition.
• He became only the fourth Kiwi player to hit a century on World Cup debut by scoring 123* runs off just 96 balls. It was also coincidentally his maiden ODI century. This was also the fastest century by a New Zealand player in the World Cup, reaching 100 in 82 balls.
• He also became the youngest New Zealand player to score a World Cup century at the age of 23 years and 321 days.
• Also, along with Devon Conway, he registered the fourth highest partnership in World Cup history, and helped his team beat the defending champions.
• On 28 October 2023, during a group stage match against Australia, Rachin scored his second century and gave New Zealand a glimmer of hope in a high scoring run chase of 389 at Dharamsala which New Zealand agonisingly lost by 5 runs, a match which became a runfest aggregating whopping 771 runs to become the World Cup match with the highest aggregate involving the combination of both team’s totals.
• He became only the second batter in World Cup history after Sachin Tendulkar to have scored 2 centuries in World Cups at the age of 23.
• On 4 November 2023, during a group stage match against Pakistan, Rachin became the second youngest batter after Sachin Tendulkar in the ODI World Cup history to complete 500 runs.
• He also broke Tendulkar’s record of most World Cup centuries before the age of 24 years when he completed his century against Pakistan.
• He also became the first batter in World Cup history to score three centuries on World Cup debut.
• He also became the first New Zealand batter to score three World Cup centuries and set the record for most World Cup centuries scored by a player for New Zealand in World Cup history.
• On 9 November 2023, during a group stage match against Sri Lanka, he broke Jonny Bairstow’s record for having scored the most number of runs by a player in his debut World Cup with 550 runs.
• He also surpassed Tendulkar’s record for having scored the most runs in a single edition of the World Cup before turning 25 with a tally of 550 runs in 9 matches.
• In February 2024, during the first Test of South Africa’s tour of New Zealand, batting at No. 4, Rachin scored 240, his maiden Test century. It is the highest maiden Test century by a New Zealand batter.