New Zealand’s young sensation Rachin Ravindra made a resounding entry into the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 with his massively exceptional performance into New Zealand’s World Cup match against England on Friday at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Ravindra played a powerful innings which was a match-winning knock for New Zealand as they beat England by nine wickets. Rachin Ravindra partnered with Devon Conway to build a 273-run partnership to hand the team their victory in the very first match of the tournament. Ravindra scored (123) runs unbeaten which was also the fastest century for New Zealand in World Cup. After the match, Rachin Ravindra hailed the Indian legends and inspirational figures Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid by stating that he grew up watching them.

“I think those two are pretty special cricketers. Obviously, I’ve heard a lot of stories and watched a lot of footage and the influence from my parents and the old-school Indian cricketers was pretty cool,” said Ravindra during post-match press conference. 

“Being able to watch a lot of their highlights and stuff. Obviously, I idolized Sachin Tendulkar. I think a lot of people did. I think the way he batted and his technique was beautiful to watch,” stated Ravindra. 

Rachin Ravindra also brought up the names of greats Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara as to how he admires them.

“I guess being lefty, there’s guys you look at, I love Lara, I love Sangakkara, just the usual gun left-handers, but Tendulkar was definitely the idol,” he said. 

Rachin Ravindra hammered century off 82 deliveries which was one of the superb innings in the World Cup. His century included 11 fours and 5 sixes. It was a power-packed performance from rising Rachin. 

“I think a hundred is always special, but I guess in terms of being able to perform in India is pretty cool.

“So, it’s cool to have that moment and obviously it’s always nice coming to India I have a sense of family connection whenever I’m in Bangalore and being able to see my grandparents and stuff, so yeah, it’s pretty cool,” said Rachin.