PUNE: It's a challenging little period for New Zealand cricket. Some of their greatest players have turned down central contracts in the recent past. Others have retired.
A few haven't progressed the way they would have liked. But a new lodestar may have emerged at the right time to guide the Black Caps past uncertainty and towards a more assured future. Rachin Ravindra.
In March 2023, the southpaw, at least from an Indian perspective, was one half of a match-saving, 10th-wicket, fourth-innings partnership in dying light in Kanpur in 2021. Now, it won't even be in the top five of the things he has accomplished. Such has been his rise. One only needed to listen to Tom Latham when he spoke about his younger colleague in reverential terms on Wednesday.
"It's a fine balance between defending and attacking (on how to play spin in India successfully)," the Black Caps skipper said. "Each individual has a certain way of going about things. For us, it's about trying to recognise the situation as best as we can and play accordingly.
"Take Rachin, for example. I thought the way he played was outstanding. You take the situations of some of the partnerships he was involved in (at Bengaluru). He put his foot down a little bit and he was more attacking in certain stages and soaked up the pressure a bit in certain stages."
The building blocks for that century was constructed in Chennai where Ravindra had a short camp before their run of Tests in Asia in September.
When he spoke to select reporters during that camp, held at the Super Kings Academy, the 24-year-old had said: "When you look at the way the guys from the subcontinent bat, the way they hold their shape for longer in the lower positions they get into, I think as cricketers from the western side of the world, we are still trying to incorporate that into our spin games," Ravindra had noted.
"It's about having an open mind to all that and stuff, but it's also important to remember what we do well as a team and players. It's about being able to take bits from the experiences we have had and ultimately back ourselves and trust our plan."
He had used the experience of coming and playing on Indian pitches repeatedly when he was a kid and he married that with his natural ability of using his wrists and the gift of timing.
The media does tend to focus more on batters who have gone back from these shores with a century. It's a hard place to get one against India's assorted match-winners across bowling types.
Overseas batters, rightly or wrongly, employ different variations of the sweep to counter the hosts' spin troika. It can be a hit and miss shot at the best of times, even on the most docile of surfaces. It's loaded with risk, like trying to play Minesweeper on hard mode. So, what Ravindra does is employ his rubber wrists rather than use the conventional sweep.
He's also adept going downtown, no doubt because of the many summers he trained in India when school back home was in recess. Now, this isn't to say he doesn't play across the line. He does. But when he does swipe, he has the air of a man on a dating app who knows what he's doing.
You would need that confidence while going at over run-a-ball against R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. In total, he faced 95 balls against those three and plundered 101 (30 off 35 against Ashwin, 30 off 21 against Kuldeep and 41 off 39 against Jadeja).
To be fair to the three spinners, it's easier to attack them when their lines and lengths are informed by defensive fields and a wicket where it wasn't doing much. It will be very different in Pune.
If Ravindra can master the conditions again, the visitors will know for sure what their decade will be like. A moppy-haired, goofy-looking left-hander from Wellington.Rising star Rachin stakes his claim as New Zealand's lodestar
The youngster impressed with his century in Bengaluru and is expected to play a vital role for Black Caps going forward
If Ravindra can master the conditions again, the visitors will know for sure what their decade will be like. A moppy-haired, goofy-looking left-hander from Wellington.