“I Idolize Sachin Tendulkar” Kiwi’s Rachin Ravindra (image-instagram/rachinravindra)

New Zeland’s all rounder Rachin Ravindra after smashing an unbeaten century at the ICC World Cup opening match, opened up about his admiration for cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Soon after winning the match against the defending champions by 9 wickets, he unfurled the secret behind his name ‘Rachin’ in the press conference.’

He said that it was the influence of two legendry players that led to choosing of his name ‘Rachin’. Ravindra was named after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. “I think those two are pretty special cricketers,” he said.

“I think the way he batted and his technique was beautiful to watch,” he opined about Sachin. He went on and said that being a left- handed batter, he also liked Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara.

On speaking on his Indian roots, he expressed his immense pleasure to score a century in India. He also shared about the family connection to India he felt whenever he visited his grandparents in Bangalore.

While, Ravindra’s remarkable achievement places him along the elite group of players who have scored  century in their World Cup debut and he also became the third youngest player to reach to this remarkable achievement. Ravindra reached the century milestone in just 81 deliveries.

With relatively short international career, with 13 ODI, Ravindra has already amassed nearly 300 runs and have taken 12 wickets. With impressive set of talents and skills, he is a valuable asset to the New Zealand team. His overall performance earned him the Man of the Match title in his debut World Cup game.

Ravindra will be full on action in the next match against Netherlands in Hyderabad on October 9.