After scores of 123* vs England and 51 vs the Netherlands, young New Zealand star Rachin Ravindra had his first failure with the bat in the World Cup 2023 as he was dismissed for only 9 runs against Bangladesh on Friday in Chennai.
Left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman was the man for Bangladesh who delivered this first blow. But that didn’t come without some drama and entertainment even in his brief innings.
Chasing an under-par total of 246 runs, Rachin Ravindra got off to a quickfire start, crashing Mustafizur for two boundaries in the third over of the innings. On both the balls, Mustafizur offered some width outside the off-stump and Rachin Ravindra was happy to slash at those and collect a couple of fours.
However, Mustafizur Rahman stormed back with a peach of a delivery and had his sweet revenge over Rachin as he nicked the ball to the wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim.
Mustafizur corrected both his line and length. It was a back-of-length ball just in the corridor outside the off-stump, not giving Rachin either the shortness to pull or the width to cut as he did on the previous two occasions. Uncertain of what do to, the left-hander just poked at it and outside edged it to the wicket-keeper.
After being smashed for two fours, Mustafizur had the last laugh over Rachin Ravindra.
Watch: Rachin Ravindra cracked Mustafizur Rahman for two fours, but gets out
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Meanwhile, the chase was made very comfortable for New Zealand by their skipper Kane Williamson, who scored 78 runs but had to retire hurt out after being hit on a finger. Daryl Mitchell cracked 89* runs to see off the chase with 43 balls to spare and 8 wickets in hand. The Kiwis are at the top of the points table with 3 wins in as many games.
Williamson said: “Just made holding the bat a little tough. Secondary to the thumb(laughs). The guys in the first half with the ball were excellent. Was nice to build partnerships and take it deep. Midway through the powerplay we thought we can hit the deck a little hard. Good competitive wicket. Really good team performance. Lockie was outstanding. The seam bowlers were really effective. He hasn’t had the good fortune. Was nice to be out there and be part of some of the partnerships. Just scrapped through the new ball. Great team performance. Mitchell is a great contributor. He is a team first guy. He has been great to watch.”
