India vs New Zealand – Rachin Ravindra tackles the spin test in style on his way to a 'special' century

“Yes, very, very uncharacteristic,” Ravindra said of his celebration at the end of the third day's play after his 134 from 157 balls helped New Zealand to a first-innings lead of 356. “I don't know, a little bit.” Fist pump doesn't happen often for me, but I guess it's always nice to score an overseas 100 in India, but also the context in which we lost a few wickets and have built a pretty cool partnership especially.

“I guess more than just the milestone, I think we can do it with our teammates and with our backs… no, I wouldn't say with our backs against the wall because we had a significant lead, but if the game It's over.” In the end it probably meant a lot and it felt really good to share it with my mate Timmy (Tim Southee).

The standout feature of Ravindra's innings was his approach against India's formidable spin trio. Ravindra faced 95 spin balls from which he scored 101 runs. He got R Ashwin for 30 off 35, Kuldeep Yadav for 30 off 21 and Ravindra Jadeja for 41 off 39. That almost never happens in India.

Rarely does an overseas batsman play as many shots as 24-year-old Ravindra. He didn't use the conventional sweep like most other visiting hitters. Instead, he displayed wrist movement as batsmen in the subcontinent often do, playing the ball late and also using his feet to get to the delivery pitch and get it downtown. When Ravindra brought out the cross-bat, he swept the boundary four times.

“I think with a wicket like this sometimes you can pick and choose because it didn't do too much,” Ravindra said. “(There were) not too many demons in it but I think it looks like, okay, especially in Test cricket these days it feels like you always have to push the team forward and always score runs.”

“You see teams all over the world, the way they are scoring, the run rates have gone up and it just feels natural. I think for us it was just a matter of pushing that further and using the options as best we could. “But I think we know that when you're batting in India, once you face 20, 30, 40 balls, it gets easier .

“And obviously it’s a surface where you can score pretty quickly, right? Short boundaries, fast outfield, pretty good wicket to bat on. Luckily the stars aligned today.”

Ravindra's 134 was his second Test century and his first in Asia. Coincidentally, his parents were born and brought up in Bengaluru. His father Ravi Krishnamurthy, who played good level cricket in the city before migrating to New Zealand in 1997, watched his son from the stands. Ravindra still has many relatives in Bengaluru and visited them during his holidays.

“Yeah, it’s obviously special,” he said. “A lot of my family will probably watch the game at the stadium and then at home on TV. I know they are very, very proud and it makes me happy that they can watch a relative play in their hometown.” is very cool.

“And dad and mom would be very, very proud that it’s really special that I can play in their hometown where they grew up. But as I always say, I'm fully Kiwi, 100% Kiwi, but it's nice to have this base of Indian heritage here in Bengaluru.

Ravindra also demonstrated poise and skill in leading New Zealand's underclass. They had slipped from 193 for 3 to 233 for 7 on the third morning, but he took the lead with a 137-run stand, with Tim Southee missing just 132 balls. He ended up being the last batsman to be dismissed.

“Yes, an extremely invaluable experience,” said Ravindra about his pre-tour training. “I guess I thought before the six subcontinent Tests we had that maybe it would be best for me to train there for a few days, in slightly more realistic conditions than we would have in the US.” Wickets in New Zealand , which, as you know, wouldn't serve the same purpose.

“And luckily the CSK guys really sorted me out and I was able to get four or five days of really good training on, you know, red and black ground wickets. I think that was invaluable and helped me sort through, solidify some game plans and work on a few positions that I wanted.