 "Rachin Ravindra has scored two hundreds in Bengaluru in three matches. Image: AP")
Rachin Ravindra loves playing at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, his father’s former hometown, and it was evident once again on Friday as he smashed his second Test century to put New Zealand in control of the first Test against India. He is also the first batter from New Zealand since 2012 to score a Test century in India.
Ross Taylor was the last Kiwi batter to get a Test hundred in India when he scored 113 in 2012.
Ravindra loves batting in Bengaluru
In fact, Friday’s hundred is also Ravindra’s second at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in only three international matches. He scored 108 against Pakistan in Bengaluru during the 2023 ODI World Cup. The Pakistan match was Ravindra’s first ODI innings in Bengaluru, and the ongoing first Test in his first Test innings in Bengaluru.
In his second international match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, also in the 2023 ODI World Cup, Ravindra scored 42 against Sri Lanka to break a 27-year-old record that was held by the great Sachin Tendulkar.
With his 42-run knock last year, Ravindra became the highest-scoring under-25 player at a single World Cup. Tendulkar held the record by scoring 523 runs in the 1996 World Cup. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, Ravindra finished with 578 runs from 10 matches at an average of 64.
In an IPL game earlier this season at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Ravindra had scored 61 while playing for the Chennai Super Kings.
Ravindra’s family history
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRavindra’s family originally hails from Bengaluru and his father Ravi Krishnamurthy was a club cricketer in the city before moving to New Zealand. Krishnamurthy now runs Hutt Hawks club in Wellington which played a big role in Ravindra becoming a professional cricketer.
There’s also a very interesting story behind Rachin Ravindra’s unique first name. His father named him after his two favourite batters – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. So ‘Ra’ in his name Rachin comes from Rahul and ‘chin’ comes from Sachin.
New Zealand were 345/7 at Lunch on Day 3 of the ongoing Test at the time of writing this report with Ravindra and Tum Southee making an unbeaten 112-run partnership.