Rachin Ravindra, an all-around player from New Zealand, and Ben Sears, a seam bowler, were recently spotted refining their craft at the Super Kings academy, which is a project of the five-time IPL winner Chennai Super Kings. The institute, which has branches outside of Tamil Nadu, has top-notch training facilities that Sears and Ravindra, a former member of CSK in the IPL 2024, have been using to prepare for an upcoming important game.
Ravindra and Sears on the ground
There were other Kiwi players at the Super Kings academy besides Ravindra. Ben Sears, a fast bowler, was with the southpaw in the training nets. The Super Kings Cricket Academy’s official X Twitter posted photos from the Kiwi pair’s training session. The historic one-off Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand begins on Monday, September 9 at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground. Both players have been named in the team.
This will be the first red-ball match between the two sides in Afghanistan’s new home. This match against Afghanistan can be a crucial warm-up for the lengthy subcontinental tour that includes three Test matches against India and two against Sri Lanka.
New Zealand vs Afghanistan upcoming match
With 578 runs at a strong average of 64.22, Ravindra—who made his grand debut during the ODI World Cup in India last year—finished as the fourth-highest run scorer in the competition. CSK saw his performance right away and acquired him for INR 1.80 crore at the IPL 2024 auction. He had a great start to the competition, hammering 83 runs off 35 balls in his first two games, but as it went on, his form deteriorated.
Despite this, Rachin Ravindra scored 160.87 runs with a strike rate of 222 across ten matches. Afghanistan has announced a preliminary roster of 20 players for the Test match; following a training camp in Greater Noida, the squad will be reduced to 15. Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead the team, although Rashid Khan, the top all-around player, will miss a lot of games due to a back issue.
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