Rachin Ravindra has 11 wickets so far in the tournament.
New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra has been one of the most surprising performers with the ball in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. He is currently his team’s leading wicket-taker, with 11 scalps at 10.64 runs apiece and an economy rate of 6.88 in seven innings, including a best of 4/27.
Rachin always had those bowling smarts, but this tournament has shown he has worked on using them wisely, according to the conditions on offer. During an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Lance Dry, the former Wellington spinner who has coached Ravindra at Firebirds, explained how the all-rounder used his bowling smarts against South Africa, including the scrambled seam that has fetched him ample success.
“Like Michael Bracewell, Rachin has the same level of bowling intelligence as his batting intelligence. When he was bowling to right-handers, he was bowling traditional fingerspin – the seam was up and pointing towards third man. Against the left-handers, he never bowled any deliveries like that and just bowled scrambled seam because he didn’t want to turn it into their arc and was looking for some variability in bounce, which worked.”
He took two crucial wickets of Aiden Markram and David Miller during the spell and helped New Zealand restrict the opponent to a mere 169/8 in the first innings. Rachin’s craft worked brilliantly on Eden Gardens surface that had a bit of grip, with an odd ball stopping a touch.
A notable pattern in Rachin Ravindra’s bowling has been his proficiency against LHBs, who are generally seen as a negative matchup for left-arm spinners. He has still done better against right-handers, but his numbers against southpaws are not too bad either: 3 wickets, 12.66 average, & 8.44 economy rate.
ALSO READ:
A major reason has been how he has used the scrambled seam against LHBs, so the ball doesn’t turn into LHBs from right to left and instead holds its line and skids on. It reduces sidespin, and some overspin generates more bounce.
Take David Miller’s wicket, for instance: Rachin Ravindra delivered it with a scrambled seam, as the ball wobbled away a touch. As a result, the batter couldn’t get his timing right and was out while playing a big shot, as the ball came off the toe end of the bat due to extra bounce.
However, the all-rounder has been smart enough not to become predictable with this variation and used boundary dimensions to his advantage as well. During the England game, Rachin used his stock balls that turned into LHBs because the leg side was big, so he induced boundary shots in that direction to dismiss Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran in the deep midwicket region.
India already have spin issues, even if recent flat tracks have covered them to an extent. Abhishek Sharma, in particular, has yet to regain full form, and Rachin might be used with the new ball.
India have four more LHBs in the batting unit – Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, and Axar Patel. While the last two are skilled, and Kishan has also improved against spin, Rachin Ravindra will still fancy his chances to get a few of them with his scrambled seam.
The pitch in Ahmedabad will give him some extra bounce to aid him further. He has already bowled a couple of solid spells in the tournament, and big blows in the summit clash can’t be ruled out.
For India, the key will be to avoid treating him as a part-time bowler and give more respect in Ahmedabad. Rachin’s improved proficiency against LHBs will definitely give the Kiwis more options to work with, as they look to get that elusive trophy.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
