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ICC World Cup 2023: New Zealand's Ravindra revels in 'unbelievable' performance against England
The result was a contrast to the epic World Cup final at Lord's in 2019 between the two teams when England won a tied match on boundary count back
New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra (right) celebrates with Devon Conway after scoring a century against England. — AFP
Rachin Ravindra was over the moon after his man-of-the-match performance in the ICC World Cup opening game against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Having taken a wicket with the ball, Ravindra scored a fantastic unbeaten 123 as he shared an unbroken 273-run partnership with Devon Conway (152 not out) to help the Kiwis thrash defending champions England by nine wickets.
After restricting England to 282-9, left-handers Conway and Ravindra put on an exhibition of superb stroke-play as the Black Caps comfortably overhauled the target with 13.4 overs to spare.
The result was a contrast to the epic World Cup final at Lord's in 2019 between the two teams when England won a tied match on boundary count back.
"It's unbelievable and great to have a great day out," said Ravindra.
"The bowlers bowled well and lucky enough to have Devon out there. I spent a lot of time with Dev and we are very, very close mates.
"I was little more comfortable and I have a lot of chat with Dev - being able to do that in the middle is cool."
New Zealand, led by Tom Latham in the absence of regular skipper Kane Williamson, kept England down to a below-par total despite Joe Root's 77.
Conway hit the first ton of the tournament off 83 balls studded with 13 fours and two sixes and soon reached 1,000 runs in 23 ODI matches.
The 23-year-old Ravindra quickly followed with his maiden ODI century off 82 balls with nine fours and four sixes, raising his bat to acknowledge the smattering of fans inside the 132,000-capacity arena.
"Probably, the most pleasing thing was Devon and Rachin just reacted to what was being bowled. Rachin played a fantastic innings and proud of him. Looking forward to get around him tonight," Latham said.
Earlier, fast bowler Matt Henry returned figures of 3-48 for the New Zealand while spinners Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips took two wickets each.
Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow gave England a brisk start but Malan fell, caught behind off Henry and Bairstow's knock was cut short by Santner, who got the batsman out for 33 off his left-arm spin.
Harry Brook took on Ravindra in the left-arm spinner's first over to smash two fours and a six before the bowler had his revenge on the final delivery.
Brook, coming into the starting line-up for Stokes, attempted another big hit and was caught at deep mid-wicket.
Root reached his 37th ODI half-century off 57 balls, an innings laced with two fours and one six off a reverse scoop shot.
But he fell to Phillips' off-spin while attempting a reverse sweep and England slipped further before Adil Rashid (15) and Mark Wood (13) ensured the team played out their 50 overs with an unbeaten stand of 30.
Brief scores:
New Zealand beat England by nine wickets.
England 282/9 in 50 overs (J. Root 77, J. Buttler 43, J. Bairstow 33; Henry 3/48, Phillips 2/17, Santner 2/37)
New Zealand 283/1 in 36.2 overs (D. Conway not out 152, R. Ravindra not out 123; Curran 1/47)
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