Ravindra Ravindra, 21, the only member of the 20-man New Zealand squad currently in the UK who has not played any international cricket yet, has a strong Indian connection. Not only was he born to Indian parents in Wellington, he has been regularly playing in India for the last few years on off-season tours.
Ravindra’s father Ravi Krishnamurthy, a software system architect from Bengaluru who moved to New Zealand in the 1990s, is the founder of the Hutt Hawks Club in New Zealand, which brings players over to India every summer. Some international Kiwi cricketers like James Neesham and Tom Blundell have also been part of these tours.
“I’ve trained, played at RDT (Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh) every year in the last four years during our winter,” Ravindra was quoted by Telengana Today.
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The report also quoted one of the coaches at the Andhra Pradesh cricket academy, Khatib Syed Shahabuddin: “He (Rachin Ravindra) was part of the Hutt Hawks contingent that used to train at the Rural Development Trust at Anantapur for the last four years. He is a promising cricketer. As a young cricketer, he showed a lot of promise and hunger to excel as a left-handed bat and left-arm spin.”
What’s young @cricketwgtninc star Rachin Ravindra looking forward to about being in the same squad as Kane Williamson for the first time? #ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/Hbe38KtIOd
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) May 19, 2021
Ravindra, whose first name Rachin is inspired by the names of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, had come to India along with the New Zealand team for the 2016 U-19 World Cup. He had then brushed shoulders with the likes of Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar. Five years later, he will get his first chance to shine on the ultimate stage against the senior Indian team.
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