New Zealand's batter Rachin Ravindra celebrates his century during the ICC Cricket World Cup match between England and New Zealand at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra headlined the opening World Cup match against England with a century that was as stylish as it was substantive. It's now well documented that the southpaw's name is a portmanteau of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar of whom his father Ravindra Krishnamurthy is a huge fan.
However, the free-flowing batting of Rachin prompted a commentator to remark that though his name had been derived from Rahul and Sachin, he was batting like Brian Lara!
On Friday, ahead of India's practice session here at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Dravid, rather bizarrely, was asked if he knew about the 23-year-old cricketer.
"Yeah, I think he played a Test match against us in Kanpur and I do remember him because he saved the Test match (for New Zealand)," replied Dravid.
When prodded further if he was aware that the name Rachin is inspired by the "Ra" in his name and the "Chin" in Tendulkar's first name, the wry smile on Dravid's face was a sign of what his answer was going to be.
"Watching him bat yesterday, he hit five sixes... Maybe it was more of that 'chin' that was there (laughs). Not sure if I ever hit the ball off the square at all, I couldn't hit the ball off the square at all. Maybe the Sachin in it helped him certainly."
"I thought both (Devon Conway and Rachin) of them played really well. Obviously got New Zealand off to a really flying start in the tournament and looked like the wicket really became a good one as the game went on. And yeah, both of them batted really well," he added.