Recently, New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra and his seam bowler counterpart Ben Sears were seen honing their skills at the Super Kings academy, an initiative by the five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings. Having branches abroad too, the academy, though, has not restricted itself to Tamil Nadu alone, and provides high-end training facilities which Ravindra, the former CSK player in IPL 2024, along with Sears, made use of as they gear up for an imminent crucial match.
Both players have been included in the New Zealand squad for the historic one-off Test against Afghanistan, which starts on Monday, September 9, at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground.
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It will be the first red-ball encounter between the two teams on what has been the adopted home of Afghanistan. Then there is an extended subcontinental tour with two Tests against Sri Lanka and three against India, so this game against Afghanistan could be a vital precursor.
New Zealand stars Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears train at #SuperKingsAcademy ahead of their Tests in the subcontinent against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka!🤩💛#TrainLikeASuperKing💪 pic.twitter.com/P8JsOiALSh
— Super Kings Academy (@SuperKingsAcad) September 2, 2024
Ravindra, who really announced his arrival on the big stage during last year’s ODI World Cup in India, finished as the tournament’s fourth-highest run-scorer with 578 runs at an impressive average of 64.22. His performance immediately caught the eyes of CSK, who bought him for INR 1.80 crore in the IPL 2024 auction. He started off brightly-smashing 83 runs off 35 balls in the first two outings-though as the tournament progressed, his form fell.
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Rachin Ravindra still managed to score 222 runs across 10 matches at a strike rate of 160.87. Meanwhile, Afghanistan have named a 20-man preliminary squad for the Test, which will be pruned to 15 after a preparation camp in Greater Noida. Hashmatullah Shahidi will captain the side, but a major dampener is the absence of star allrounder Rashid Khan, nursing a back injury.
