Coming off a steady diet of white-ball cricket over the past six months, New Zealand allrounder Rachin Ravindra has ramped up his red-ball preparation for the upcoming Tests in India and Sri Lanka.
Ravindra, and his good friend Ben Sears, the young tearaway, arrived in Chennai earlier this week for a short camp before they link up with the rest of the New Zealand Test side that will depart from Auckland on September 4 to Greater Noida for the one-off Test against Afghanistan, which begins on September 9. This will be followed by a two-match Test series in Sri Lanka before New Zealand return to India to play three more Tests later this year.
Prior to visiting India, Ravindra was part of red-ball winter camps at home along with a number of other New Zealand and New Zealand A players.
"As a group, we have had some good camps together," Ravindra said during a media interaction at the Chennai Super Kings high-performance centre in Chennai. "Two camps in the Mount [Maunganui], Tauranga and we've had a camp in Christchurch and Lincoln. The wickets have been really good. We've been able to get around to each other after being away, especially the Test team being away as a group for a little while.
"So, it's been good to be together and have that bonding and prepare for conditions that we might face over in the subcontinent. It's been a great few days here in Chennai, being able to acclimatise ourselves a little bit in terms of the red soil and black soil, stuff [pitches] that we might face. It's been quite enjoyable."
Ravindra has already had considerable success in India across formats. On Test debut in Kanpur in November 2021, he soaked up 91 balls, scoring an unbeaten 18 to help New Zealand salvage a draw against a strong India spin attack comprising R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Then, during the 2023 ODI World Cup, he emerged as the breakout star, and more recently this year, he played some sparkling cameos for CSK in his maiden IPL stint. Ravindra hopes to tap into those experiences and challenge India again later this year.
"I think whenever you play India in a three-match Test series, it's always going to be difficult," he said. "I think it shows how good they are as a team around the world, especially at home in the red-ball format. It's obviously going to be tough and the stuff that we learnt from the last series, we'll look to take it here.
"Three different venues - Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai - and three different surfaces, so it's going to pose different challenges. They're a world-class team for a reason and hopefully we can give them a run for their money. But also recognising that's still a month away, we have still got three Tests ahead of us before that, first against Afghanistan, then two against Sri Lanka, so that's all very important. In the context of the World Test Championship, every game is important. That's the mindset we're going to be taking into it."
With New Zealand set to face spin-heavy attacks in both India and Sri Lanka, Ravindra has urged his team-mates to have an "open mind" and find their own ways to counter the slower bowlers.
"It's a completely different challenge," Ravindra 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're still trying to incorporate that into our spin games. It's about having an open mind to all that and stuff, but it's also still important for us to remember what we do well as a team and players. It's about being able to take bits from the experiences we've had and ultimately back ourselves and trust our plan."
Ravindra has had an eventful few months, in the lead-up to these Test tours. In July, playing for Washington Freedom, he won the Major League Cricket (MLC) title in the USA with Ricky Ponting as coach and emerged as the most successful spinner in the tournament, with 12 wickets in six innings at an average of 6.08 and economy rate of 4.81. Only his Washington team-mate Saurabh Netravalkar had more wickets than him in the tournament. Also in July, he earned his first New Zealand central contract.
"I guess being able to share a dressing room with Trav [Travis Head], Smudge [Steven Smith] and Maxi [Glenn Maxwell] and Marco [Jansen],... we had an unbelievable team and locals too," Ravindra said. "It was just being able to take experience from them and learning from them; how they prepare and how confident they are in their own games. Ricky Ponting - having someone like that in the dressing room is amazing. You talk about great players, some of the greatest players of all time and he's right up there, so being able to see his intensity and his competitiveness was cool to see.
"I'm very lucky to have been part of some great teams recently, MLC, Chennai Super Kings and obviously Black Caps. With great support staff, learning from those guys, Huss [Mike Hussey], Flem [Stephen Fleming], Rutu [Ruturaj Gaikwad], Jinks [Ajinkya Rahane], all those guys."
Ravindra: 'Hard to crystal-ball gaze but we're ready for transition'
With Ross Taylor, BJ Watling and Neil Wagner retiring, and Trent Boult recently ending his T20 World Cup career and making only sporadic appearances for New Zealand since becoming a free agent, New Zealand are in transition across formats. Ravindra talked up New Zealand's domestic depth and backed the fringe players to make the step up to international cricket in the near future.
"I think it's always going to be tough when you have world-class players - [Trent] Boult, Nossy [Kane Williamson], Timmy [Tim Southee] and the likes [of] boys coming in recently, Dev [Devon Conway], Daryl [Mitchell], it happens, and I think the beauty of it is, New Zealand… we're a competitive nation, and the structure in terms of domestic cricket, and the pathway system is really good. There's a lot of guys playing for New Zealand at the moment, who've gone through the New Zealand A pathway, and learnt a lot from that too, and I think our domestic cricket is very good too.
"I think the beauty of having a competitive team is that guys in the lower level down are always trying to get better. It's hard to crystal-ball gaze, and see what's going to happen, but I guess hopefully we're all ready for it. We can all continue contributing to the team, and understand that yes, the quality of players is still there, but it's important how we treat this environment and how we keep driving it forward, and keep it a great place to play."
Playing for NZ is Ravindra's priority
While the cricketing landscape is changing in New Zealand, with a number of international and domestic players knocking back their central contracts to pursue franchise T20 opportunities, Ravindra insisted that his top priority right now is to play for New Zealand.
"I think I can only speak for my situation and right now I'm still very young in my career," he said. "For me playing for New Zealand at the moment is what I see fit for myself, and everyone's got their own decisions to make. We all respect that and I think that's the beauty of our team, our environment and our culture. We all have that mutual respect and love, so everyone's situations are different and it's hard to judge everyone based on that. We'll see where it takes us, but as of now I guess we just deal with what's in front of us and it's these Tests."