Rachin Ravindra might not have been a sure starter for New Zealand without an injury to skipper Kane Williamson, but on the opening day of the World Cup, he laid down the marker in stylish fashion as he slammed his maiden ODI hundred.
“It was pretty special, and to share it with Devon (Conway), my good mate, was very cool. It was a good game for us as a team,” said Ravindra on the match-winning stand with his fellow left-hander.
Keeping it simple
Speaking about how the two went about their knocks, the 23-year-old said, “I think it was just keeping it pretty simple. The way me and Dev go about is to check in ball after ball and make sure what is important stays important instead of blindly trying to take someone down or do something rash.”
The all-rounder also underscored the efforts of the bowlers to restrict England to less than 300, saying, “It is cool to have such world-class bowlers. The boys bowled tremendously. There were times when they built a partnership, and we would get a wicket, which helped us to restrict them to 280.”
Meanwhile, England skipper Jos Buttler felt his side gifted wickets to the Kiwis and felt the execution was not up to the mark.
“We were outplayed and it is a tough loss to take, but we have guys with lots of experience who have faced these things before. Just as we don’t get too high when we win the game, we don’t get too low when we lose as well,” said Buttler.
“We were off with our execution and not clinical with our shotmaking, gifting wickets to them.”
“Had we got 320-330, it would have allowed us to put some pressure. The wicket got slightly better under lights, but the margin of error was small on that pitch, and the two batters played exceptional innings,” added Buttler.
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