Star New Zealand and Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Rachin Ravindra has said that although he has not played a match in recent times, he doesn’t feel out of match practice, with New Zealand all set to take on England in a Test series starting June 4.
As New Zealand prepare for their historic first men’s Test against Ireland later this month, followed by a three-match series in England, Ravindra said that he feels refreshed after an early return from his stint with Kolkata Knight Riders, where chances were limited.
Ravindra left the Kolkata Knight Riders camp before the conclusion of the season, a move he said was managed well and with complete support from the team.
“I mean KKR were very welcoming and understanding of the situation. Obviously,
the way it was going, I was not playing. The decision was spoken to the CEO and the coach about potentially coming home for a refresh and obviously not knowing I would be home until… Well, I would not be home until late August because of what is to come,” Ravindra said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
“So, really awesome from them to be able to say, go home, refresh, do a bit of training and what you need before joining the boys in Ireland. Because there was always going to be a little bit of an overlap,” Ravindra added.
The star New Zealand allrounder suggested that his time at the Indian Premier League also helped his preparation for red-ball cricket.
“There are benefits to playing cricket and training. There are also massive benefits to being in the IPL. I mean, you get to talk to someone like Ajinkya Rahane, who is a lovely man who has played so much cricket overseas, scored a hundred at Lord’s and played so much cricket against England and Australia away,” Ravindra said.
“The coach [Abhishek Nayar] used to be the assistant batting coach for India. You got Shane Watson, who is our batting coach, who has played England a lot, coached a lot of guys who have played England,” Ravindra added.
“So it is sort of, it is more than just the T20 as well. Being able to sit down and talk to Virat [Kohli] about batting or talking to KL Rahul, all these guys who have done well and had success over periods of time,” Ravindra said.
