T20 World Cup: Ravindra delighted with turn on wicket as New Zealand crushes Sri Lankan dreams

Rachin Ravindra produced a career-best haul of four for 27 to gatecrash Sri Lanka’s 169-run chase at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.

What stood out in the 26-year-old’s bowling performance was how he defended the shorter side of the boundary while operating from the Khetterama End.

“I guess you’re always teeing the ball away from the right-handers. So for me it wasn’t giving them too much opportunity to use that [shorter] side and operate slightly wider outside off.

“Luckily for me, there was a lot of turn and bounce in the wicket, which suits my bowling,” Rachin said after the Kiwis’ 61-run win.

The attempt at shielding the right-handers’ on side was evident in Rachin’s wickets.

Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake were beaten by turn from outside off and stumped. Dasun Shanaka and Dushan Hemantha tried to heave from wide outside off and miscued their shots.

Rachin added that trying to impart overspin on his deliveries helped in extracting the bounce and turn.

“I’m not sure if it’s anything special, I think most of it is backing what we do and trusting our method. Obviously, we’re used to bowling the overspin stuff in New Zealand because you’re not getting that much purchase, so you’re hoping to get a bit of dip and bounce and a bit of guile, and that wicket out there was suitable for that stuff,” Rachin added.

While the bowlers contained Sri Lanka in the second innings, the contest truly shifted in New Zealand’s favour in the death overs of the first innings.

Mitchell Santner and Cole McConchie forged an 84-run rearguard association to rescue the innings from 84 for six. Aided by some poor bowling from Sri Lanka’s pacers, Santner and McConchie blasted 70 runs in the last four overs.

“What was extremely pleasing was the calmness shown by Santner and Cole in that amazing partnership. Obviously, credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers, they bowled really well, stump-to-stump, changed their pace, made it hard for us.

“It was awesome to have a left-right combination, and it looked like they targeted that shorter side and ran really hard. It’s something we pride ourselves on as a New Zealand team, being able to do different things in different pressure times. I guess we probably discussed that 150 was going to be a great score and whatever we got was a bonus,” Rachin said.

The first win in the Super Eight stage put New Zealand on the cusp of the semifinals. But it still needs to beat England to seal its place, and Rachin said that facing the already-qualified side at the same venue gives an advantage to his team.

“You’re always confident going into these fixtures, especially when you know what the surface is going to be like, but I think it’d be silly to underestimate England. They’ve got world-class batters throughout their order. Obviously, we’ll take confidence from today and move on, but realise in two days’ time it’s a different challenge and hopefully we can be up for it,” Rachin said.

Published on Feb 26, 2026