Named after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, meet Indian-origin New Zealand cricketer Rachin Ravindra

On Wednesday, New Zealand promoted young batter Rachindra Ravindra to its side during the first Twenty20 International (T20I) against India at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Although he played five T20Is for the side before Wednesday, this game made most Indians aware of him.

Having played six T20Is to date, he has managed just 54 runs at an average of 9.00. Although it is still early to analyse his batting based on his number and stats, he is undoubtedly an excellent batting prospect for the Kiwis. While fans are curious to know more about him, here we present five of his unknown facts.

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Indian parents
He was born to Indian parents. His father, Ravi Krishnamurthy, was a software system architect from Bengaluru. His mother is Deepa Krishnamurthy, while Ravindra was born in Wellington and started playing cricket at the age of five.

Hawks Club
His father had moved his base to New Zealand in the 90s. He was the founder of the Hawks Club in 2011. It allowed Ravindra to travel to India every summer, where he played at RDT in Anantapur and had been practising there while he was 13 years old.

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Close bonding with Javagal Srinath
Yes, you might be shocked to know this, but Ravindra's father was close to Srinath, and they played cricket together before moving to NZ. Ravindra refers Srinath to as Sri Uncle, while they still discuss the sport upon visiting the town.

Inspired by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid
If you are not aware, Ravindra's name was inspired by his two childhood idols, Tendulkar and Dravid. He also revealed that he admired the former the most, and it was his gameplay that he adapted to refine his cricketing skills.

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Youngest Kiwi
At the age of 16, he became the youngest Kiwi to participate in the ICC U-19 World Cup during the 2016 edition in Bangladesh. He also played the tournament in 2018, while he met Shubman Gill during India A tour of New Zealand in 2019-20 when the two sides played an unofficial Test.