Auckland [New Zealand], February 22 : Ahead of the second T20I against Australia, New Zealand's rising sensation Rachin Ravindra said on Thursday that he is not only aiming to play the ICC T20 World Cup for the Kiwis, but also in becoming a "multi-faceted versatile cricketer".
Rachin has had really nice last five-six months or so, making an impact during the ICC Cricket World Cup in India with 578 runs in 10 innings, including three tons and two fifties. After some exposure to Test cricket, he finally played a breakthrough knock of 240 against South Africa in the first Test recently and now against Australia in the first T20I, he scored his first T20I fifty, 68 in 35 balls, with two fours and six sixes.
Now having made some strong performances in all formats of the game and after earning an Indian Premier League (IPL) deal of Rs 1.8 crores with five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Ravindra has his eyes set on not only the T20 WC, but also proving his versatility. Ravindra wants to take each game as a learning experience and help the team win and has left selection in the hands of selectors.
"Not even just looking at the T20 World Cup, being a multi-faceted versatile cricketer is what I want to be. A genuine allrounder who can help the team in different ways and affect the game in different ways. That [selection] will all take care of itself; I am not too worried about that sort of stuff," said Ravindra as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
"If I can take each game as a learning experience and drive the team forward, that is what matters to me. If that cumulates in selection, then great. If it does not, that is okay. I have got a lot of time ahead of me," he added.
Ravindra has now played 20 T20Is, scoring 214 runs at an average of 16.46 in 18 innings with a fifty. His strike rate is 133.75. He also has 11 wickets in the format. The all-rounder admits that he has not played T20Is much and he is gathering experience not only through his own performances, but also looking at key all-format stars like Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell etc.
"T20's the format I have not played as much as the other ones... so feel like I am gaining experience from each performance or innings, and learning from guys around me. Having guys around - like Dev, the power of GP [Glenn Phillips] and Daryl [Mitchell], [and] Kane [Williamson] obviously - [and] the way they go about switching between formats is a good model," said Ravindra.
"It is always a work-on thing, being able to chop and change between formats - especially internationally. Having a block of three T20s in between [two Test series] is interesting to say the least. But it is good - [it] brings a bit of freedom, and you can relax a little bit. [The] consequences are not as heavy," he added.
The New Zealand management has been extremely careful with their new star's workload, resting him for four out of five T20Is against Pakistan in January. Ravindra admitted that he found it hard to have some rest during that period as he wanted to play.
"I kind of found it hard to have that rest period. It was a good conversation with the coaches because they saw I was potentially a bit tired. [From] August to December [last year] I was away from New Zealand, so it was probably needed at that point. At my age, you always want to play as much as possible, but that is also something I have got to learn about myself," he added.
The series between Australia and New Zealand is currently 1-0 in favour of the Aussies, who chased down 216 set by Kiwis in the first T20I courtesy of big-hitting from Mitchell Marsh (72*) and Tim David (31*).
New Zealand Squad: Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Mitchell Santner(c), Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Will Young, Ben Sears
Australia Squad: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh(c), Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Tim David, Matthew Short, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Ellis, Spencer Johnson, Matthew Wade, Steven Smith.
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