NEWS
Follow UsTom Latham minced no words when he said “bowl first” in Ahmedabad, considering how the conditions quickly turned a corner from the first innings. While England were batting, the surface looked two-pace, and New Zealand, on the back of some brilliance from Matt Henry (3/48) and Mitchell Santner (2/37), reduced a rampant English side to just 282/9.
At 10/1, losing the wicket of Will Young, New Zealand found themselves in loads of pressure. For 23-year-old Rachin Ravindra, who joined the other ODI World Cup debutant, Devon Conway, the pressure was added. Over the next few overs, the two middle left-handers were smothering the English bowling unit while playing all classical shots.
Both Ravindra (123) and Conway (152) ended up with scintillating centuries. Had Lockie Ferguson been fit, New Zealand would have ended up playing three pacers, essentially ruling out a place for the left-handed Ravindra. The 23-year-old insisted that it is ‘unbelievable’ at times and added that it was a great day out.
“Sometimes it's unbelievable at times, but great to have a great day out,” Ravindra insisted in the post-match presentation.
It wasn’t the first time Ravindra and Conway joined hands and put on a show. The two Wellington batters have forged brilliant partnerships before, but none as significant as the 273-run stand they put on here in Ahmedabad. The duo averaged 59.1 as a pair in First-Class format, 34 in T20s and 38 in List A.
The 23-year-old also talked about his partnership with Conway, insisting that he was comfortable batting with the veteran in the middle.
“The bowlers bowled well and lucky enough to have Devon out there. I spent a lot of time with Dev and we are very, very close mates. I was little more comfortable and I have a lot of chat with Dev - being able to do that in the middle is cool,” he added.
“For sure, if you asked us four-five years ago, we all knew the kind of player Dev would become. The surface was very good and lovely to bat on, similar to the warm-up game in Hyderabad.”
