New Zealand has unearthed a rare gem in the form of Rachin Ravindra, the 23-year-old player of Indian origin who has slammed three centuries already in the ongoing ICC World Cup cricket tournament. The name Rachin was selected by his cricket crazy father who decided to combine the names of his favourite cricketers Rahul (Dravid) and Sachin (Tendulkar) when naming his son. Rachin was born on 18th November 1999 so he will be celebrating his 24th birthday after a few days.
His father Ravi Krishnamurthy, a software engineer from Bengaluru, played club level cricket in his youth. Later he and his wife Deepa Krishnamurthy moved to New Zealand and their son whom they named Rachin Ravindra was born in Wellington.
Encouraged by his father, Rachin began playing cricket as a five-year- old child. Perhaps he inherited some skills from his father and he was given some more skills by nature and he soon became a proficient player. On occasions he travelled to Bengaluru to play in local matches.
In Bengaluru, Rachin’s maternal grandfather Balakrishna Adiga, proudly recalled that from an early age his grandson showed immense talent. “My son-in-law is a cricket crazy person. He used to play cricket and was friendly with Anil Kumble and other famous players. So it was but natural that he would encourage my grandson to take up the game. Rachin, being a very active and social child, took up cricket with great enthusiasm,” Mr Aidga said.
Meeting the great names of New Zealand cricket like Sir Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe further inspired Rachin Ravindra during his teenage years.
On November 25th, 2019, Rachin made his first century in the List A tournaments and the next year came his first century in first class cricket. Then there was no looking back. He made his Test debut for New Zealand against India in 2021 and his ODI debut for New Zealand against Sri Lanka in 2023.
It was while playing against Pakistan on Nov 4th, 2023, that Rachin lived up to the name (combination of Rahul and Sachin) that he had been given by his father. Although New Zealand lost the match on the DLS method, Rachin Ravindra became the second youngest batter after Sachin Tendulkar in the history of the ODI World Cup to complete a total of 500 runs. He also became the first batsman in World Cup history to score three centuries on World Cup debut.
In June 2020, The Cricket Monthly page of Cricinfo carried out a survey of 15 cricket coaches and experts from across the world to elicit the names of players whom they felt held the most promise. One of the players they selected was Rachin Ravindra. Their opinion was that he had an excellent technique against both pace and spin bowling.
Glenn Pocknall, head coach of the Wellington Firebirds team said: “His drive to become a better player is inspiring. He comes to train at 6 am with his father, then goes to the gym and training session with the other members of his team, then trains again with his Dad. He can play in all formats. But in the shorter formats, his batting scores have hit the roof in the past one year.”
But Rachin Ravindra is not just a cricket player and cricket lover. His second love is basketball and he was a huge fan of the late Kobe Bryant, the 6 feet 6 inch tall guard of the Los Angeles Lakers team who died in a helicopter crash in 2020 along with his daughter.
Today Rachin Ravindra wears jersey number 8 in memory of Kobe Bryant who had that number when he first began playing in the NBA league. Later Bryant changed his jersey number but Rachin recalls that 8 was Bryant’s first number and so Rachin wears that number on his own jersey in fond memory of his favourite basketball star.
In cricket his favourites are Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. But the way he has played in this World Cup, it looks like he may overtake his idols if he keeps up this tempo for the rest of his career. From being a cricket fan of the Black Caps when he was a boy, to emerging as a leading player of the Kiwi team, the youngster has come a long way. His future looks bright.
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