Rachin Ravindra made a comeback to red ball cricket after his last game at the same location in January 2022 against Sri Lanka.
NZ vs SA first Test, Day 2, In the opening Test of the series against South Africa, young opener Rachin Ravindra recorded his first-ever Test double century.
On day two of the first Test at Mount Maunganui, Rachin turned his debut century into a glittering double hundred.
The first day of the Test match marked the beginning of Ravindra’s journey to this milestone as both he and Kane Williamson scored centuries to lead New Zealand to a dominant position. Ravindra scored a remarkable double century in the second session of the second day. 26 fours and 3 sixes in 240 (366) to turn his first-ever Test century into an enormous score and batting average increased to 52.16.
The previous record of 214 was set in 1999 by Mathew Sinclair before Ravindra’s batting masterpiece against South Africa. Ravindra became the fourth batter from New Zealand to reach a double century in the first Test.
With his record-breaking performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup, when he amassed 578 runs, surpassing icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Babar Azam for the most runs, Ravindra’s double century is a testament to his talent and potential.
As previously stated, Rachin Ravindra became the second batter from New Zealand to make a double century in a Test match against South Africa.
He teamed up with Stephen Fleming, whose 2006 Cape Town Test score was 262.
In addition to Ravindra, the other three batsmen with Test double hundreds against South Africa this century are Brain Lara (202) of the West Indies, India’s Virat Kohli (254*), and Mahela Jayawardene (374 and 237) of Sri Lanka.
Now, on New Zealand soil, Ravindra is the 11th highest Test scorer with 240 runs. In this regard he is behind Martin Crowe (299 vs Sri Lanka, 1991), Brendon McCullum (302 vs India, 2014), Ross Taylor (290 vs Australia, 2015), Stephen Fleming (274 vs Srilanka , 2003), Bryan Young (267 vs Srilanka, 1997), Tom Latham (264 vs Srilanka, 2018) etc.
Ravindra was recognized as the 2023 ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year last month.
At an average of 64.22, he scored an incredible 578 runs in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup.
