Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru
Rachin Ravindra is a New Zealander who feels at home in Bengaluru. Not just because his family has roots in the city. It’s here that he made 108 against Pakistan in last year’s 50-over World Cup, before scoring 42 against Sri Lanka. Now, playing his first Test in the city of his father and forefathers, the all-rounder scored a hundred which made New Zealand the favourites to win the first Test.
It was in India in 2021 that this youngster made a massive statement on his Test debut. Batting at No. 8, he had helped his team to an unlikely draw in Kanpur by making an unbeaten 18 off 91 balls. New Zealand’s No. 4 bat now, Rachin gave a completely different display of talent by cracking a hundred that kept India on the back foot in a Test they were expecting to win.
To say that Rachin’s second Test century strengthened New Zealand’s already strong position would be an understatement. He blew away the vaunted spin attack and helped his team plunder 222 runs in 41.3 overs on Day 3. They needed runs and at 233/7, they were not looking like getting as many as they would have wanted. Rachin’s partnership with Tim Southee changed the game.
Composure, sense of the situation, intelligent mix of attack and defence, shot selection and fearlessness — the player turning 25 next month ticked many boxes. The left-hander was cautious in the first hour when Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj kept the visitors quiet with some incisive bowling. They were getting the ball to seam around and bowled probing lengths. Being judicious was the need of the hour and Rachin didn’t try anything fancy.
The game changed as soon as the spinners were pressed into action. Rachin targeted Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin and treated them with a kind of liberty that has seldom been seen on Indian soil. He attacked them with an intention to dominate and ended up having the last laugh. Most of his forcing shots were on the leg side and he unfurled a range of them.
Dancing down the track to loft the spinners back over their head, bringing into play slog sweep and also working the ball into the gap with some deft wrist work — Rachin nullified the spin threat using power and touch. It wasn’t big hits all the time. This was a combination of the brutal and the sublime. That’s a rare mix and the 157-ball 134 showed how good at it this he is.
“I guess it makes it extra significant to play Test cricket in India because of the family connection,” Rachin had said before this Test. “I’m born and brought up in Wellington. You know, I’m a Kiwi all the way through. But I’m very proud of my Indian heritage and to be able to play where a lot of my family is based in is something pretty special,” he said on Monday.
Rachin’s balanced approach made it special in the Test New Zealand are still in control of, after rattling India by bowling them out for 46. He displayed sound understanding of the match situation and defended when that was the need of the hour. He respected the bowlers when they deserved it and took apart the spinners when he was confident of doing that.
In the process, he has raised hopes of a first New Zealand Test win in India after 1988. In fact, he was born 11 years after that. Weather remains a concern in this Test, but if there is play, New Zealand are in the driver’s seat. Not that any one person deserves a lion’s share of that credit. But if an individual is to be singled out, it has to be the Kiwi who feels at home in Bengaluru.
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With a lead of 125 runs, New Zealand is still ahead, but India knows they can make a match of this with seven wickets in hand.
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