Rachin Ravindra reminded reporters that he is ‘100 per cent Kiwi’ but said that it was something of a dream come true to hear his name being chanted by what was a near-capacity crowd at the HPCA Stadium here on Saturday.
“Yeah, I think this was probably one of the best crowds we’ve played in India and having that sort of fanfare and the response, how they responded to the game, was pretty special,” he said after smashing his second hundred of the World Cup.
Chants of “Rachin, Rachin” emanated across the stadium late into the evening as the Kiwis, led by Ravindra’s effort, inched closer to a record 389-run chase against Australia. Even during Australia’s innings, though the loudest cheer was reserved for Glenn Maxwell’s entry to the middle, the crowd didn’t forget to make Ravindra feel at home.
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“As a kid you always dream of the crowd chanting your name and it was cool to see them do that on multiple occasions, even when the Aussies were batting,” he said.
Though an avowed New Zealander, Ravindra is proud of his heritage and believes that he could enthral fans in the country of his parents’ birth
“I guess I’m 100 per cent Kiwi and I’m very proud of my Indian heritage. But I am proud to be able to do it in the country where my parents were born and where they grew up and where a lot of my family is.”
The left-hander walked in at No. 3 and took the run-chase deep before being dismissed in the 41st over.
During his stay in the middle, he built three valuable partnerships, including a 96-run alliance off 86 balls with Daryl Mitchell for the third wicket that shifted the momentum momentarily in favour of the Kiwis.
Ravindra, who didn’t allow the tempo to drop despite his classical technique, said that he fed off Mitchell’s experience and the latter’s knock helped him settle into his natural game.
“Being able to bat with Daryl, having a little partnership with him and the way he went about his business obviously took a little bit of the attack to them [Australia] so it meant I could feed off him, and then once he got out, I was reacting to the ball and seeing what was in front of me.”
The 23-year-old’s century on Saturday came on the heels of an 87-ball 75 against India, which also went in vain, but Ravindra doesn’t believe that there is a particular area of concern for the Kiwis, who have now stumbled to two consecutive defeats.
“I think that there are probably moments in the game that you might look and be like, oh, we wish it went the other way. But I think that’s the beauty of this game. Like you can’t really go back and flip a switch,” he said after the narrow five-run defeat to Australia.
Ravindra has surprised the cricketing world with his precocious talent and, by his own admission, himself too, and when a high-flying South Africa comes calling on Wednesday, the Kiwis will hope he will have more surprises in store.
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