Youngster Rachin Ravindra talks about living his "childhood dream" during New Zealand's clash against Sri Lanka
Nov 09, 2023
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], November 9 : Youngster Rachin Ravindra talked about his journey of breaking into the New Zealand team and living his childhood dream of the crowd chanting his name while he was performing on the field of cricket.
In the time frame of the past year to six months Rachin was not even close to breaking New Zealand's playing XI, but now has emerged as a talent to watch out for by scoring three tons in the ongoing World Cup and featuring in the Top-5 run scorers in the tournament.
His 42 against Sri Lanka took the Kiwis a step closer to qualifying for the semi-finals. While talking to Star Sports after the game, the 23-year-old youngster talked about his journey which has been nothing short of a fairy tale.
"It's a pretty surreal feeling. Grateful for the support, especially playing in Bangalore. Crowd chanting my name is something I will never take for granted. Dreamt of it as a child. Very happy to be here, lucky enough it worked out. Six to 12 months ago, I was not even in the frame. Good to get the job done and get into the playoffs. Lucky enough to have come here in my teenage years on club tours. That has helped me a lot. Nice wickets to bat on. If you play positive cricket, you get rewarded. The guys have adapted well. You talk to Kane, Devon, who are legends," Rachin said.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson missed out on the majority of the tournament after breaking his thumb during the Kiwis victory over Bangladesh.
Rachin had to step up to fill his position and feels that he is lucky that he was able to fill his shoes, "It's a funny one. I have idolised Kane. I have idolised a lot like Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, Joe Root. But Kane... his leadership, on and off the field, just keeps it calm. When you are young, you take the game on, lucky to have come off."
Coming to the match, New Zealand pacers restricted Sri Lanka to a paltry score of 171 with Trent Boult leading the charge with the white ball. The Kiwis stumbled a couple of times but ended up chasing the total with three overs to spare and registered a 5-wicket victory.
