Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips steering New Zealand to victory against Canada during the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday, Febraury 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
Rachin Ravindra wasn’t in the best of form coming into the T20 World Cup and if that wasn’t enough he was under the weather too. Somehow, global showpieces seem to bring out the best in him and he has probably run into form for New Zealand as the Super Eight looms.
After enjoying a wonderful run in the 2023 ODI World Cup in the sub-continent, the 26-year-old wasn’t able to reproduce the magic as often as he would have liked in the shortest format but seems to be hitting the right notes again.
The elegant left-handed batter got into the groove in the company of the ultra-aggressive Glenn Phillips as the two helped New Zealand hunt down Canada’s 173 rather comfortably at the MAC Stadium here on Monday.
Reflecting on his fluent 39-ball unbeaten 59, he said, “Yeah, it obviously means a lot. You always want to score runs as a batsman in T20 but I also understand the game is quite fickle and you go through little troughs in places.”
Looking ahead to the Super Eight stage, he said conditions in Colombo would be different and added that “it’s still T20 cricket at the end of the day and the team does well to adapt to whatever surface is put in front of it.”
Ravindra, who has been sending down his left-arm spin a lot more in the tournament, said he liked to bowl as it helped him contribute to the team.
I’ve always loved to bowl because it gives me the opportunity to contribute to the team. Hopefully I will have a role in Colombo with those turning wickets.”
Published – February 17, 2026 08:01 pm IST
