Rachin Ravindra is a name quickly gathering steam in the world of cricket even before making a landfall in international cricket. The 21-year-old Kiwi cricketer, having roots in India, has been in prolific domestic form and was picked up by New Zealand for the upcoming 2-Test series against England and the World Test Championship against India, slated to start next month.

Whether he makes his international debut in the coming month or not is a matter of speculation. But we just thought of bringing you some lesser-known facts about Rachin which would briefly discuss his initiation as a cricketer and his connection to India.

1. Rachin was born to Indian parents Ravi Krishnamurthy, a software system architect from Bengaluru, and Deepa Krishnamurthy, in Wellington, New Zealand on November 18, 1999. When he was just 5 years old, he started playing plastic ball cricket with his father and has been practising with him ever since.

2. Rachin’s father, who moved his base to New Zealand in the 1990s, founded the Hutt Hawks Club in New Zealand in 2011, which allowed Rachin to travel to India every summer and play at RDT, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, every year since he was 13 years old.

3. Rachin's father Ravi Krishnamurthy is good friends with Javagal Srinath. They played cricket together in Bangalore before he moved to NZ. Rachin calls him Sri Uncle and they still often chat on cricket and visit each other when in town.

4. Rachin's name is inspired by the names of legendary cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

5. Rachin Ravindra, at 16 years old, was the youngest kiwi to take part in the 2016 u-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. He also played the 2018 u-19 World Cup and rubbed shoulders with our Knight Shubman Gill during India A's tour of New Zealand in an unofficial Test back in 2019-20.