Rachin Ravindra Shines with Historic 240 as South Africa Faces Uphill Battle in Test Match Against New Zealand

On the second day of the first cricket Test match between South Africa and New Zealand, Rachin Ravindra finally lived up to his reputation on Monday, making 240 runs before New Zealand was bowled out for 511.

South Africa was down by 431 runs at stumps, and they were in serious danger. In the tenth over, Kyle Jamieson claimed two wickets in three balls, causing South Africa to fall to 30/3 early.

Zubayr Hamza and David Bedingham had a 44-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Mitchell Santner knocked Hamza out near stumps. When play ended, Bedingham had 29 runs without a wicket.

It was Ravindra's day. At twenty-four, he's finally grown up after being the "Next Big Thing" in New Zealand cricket since he was a youngster.

He was recognized as having a unique skill even in high school, where he excelled. After making his first-class debut at the age of 18, he advanced to the New Zealand under-19 squad and eventually joined the Black Caps, playing T20 cricket in 2021 and Test cricket a few months later. His reputation followed him.

At the World Cup in India last year, he came close to realising some of his potential as the fourth-highest scoring batsman behind superstars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Quinton de Kock.

And on Sunday, three years after making his Test debut, he made his debut with a century alongside his hero, Kane Williamson, in only his fourth Test and seventh innings.

Williamson was dismissed on Monday at 118 after a third-wicket partnership of 232 runs. However, Ravindra proceeded to hit 150 and then 200 off of 340 balls, making history as the third New Zealander to surpass a maiden hundred runs and the second-youngest Kiwi to reach a double century, after Matthew Sinclair. The others are Sinclair and Martin Donnely.

After batting for six minutes more than nine hours, Ravindra was out, bowled by South Africa skipper Neil Brand. His was a magnificent, hard-working, and application-driven innings.

"My style of batting comes naturally to me," Ravindra said. "My scoring strategy is to simply strike the ball if it's there; if not, I'll defend it or walk away." I had to be a little picky about the balls I scored off on that surface. On the other end, Kane was giving me the ideal blueprint on how to accomplish it. It was excellent to have him as a resource throughout the relationship.

On Monday, South Africa's skipper, Brand, achieved an incredible feat by taking 6/119 on his Test debut. Given that Brand bowls left-arm only sometimes, it is unlikely that he would have anticipated bowling against four seamers in the Proteas lineup. But with the New Zealand innings consuming 144 overs and no specialist spinner available, he was left to bowl 26 overs on a field that was drying out.

As Ravindra attempted to pull, Brand bowled him with a ball that swiftly twisted around and cannoned against the stumps from his leg.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.