Rachin Ravindra admits it felt strange leaving the IPL early, yet he believes a short spell back in Wellington has set him up neatly for New Zealand’s forthcoming red-ball assignments in Ireland and England.
The 26-year-old spent the entire 2026 IPL on the Kolkata Knight Riders bench, so when the franchise agreed to release him a fortnight before the play-offs he gladly took the opportunity.
“I mean KKR were very welcoming and understanding of the situation,” Ravindra said before flying out this week. “Obviously, the way it was going, I wasn’t playing. The decision was spoken to the CEO and the coach about potentially coming home for a refresh and obviously not knowing I’d be home until… Well, I wouldn’t be home until late August because of what’s to come.
“So, really awesome from them to be able to say, go home, refresh, do a bit of training and what you need before joining the boys in Ireland. Because there was always going to be a little bit of an overlap. It made it easier since I wasn’t playing. It’s a great little refresh. We spend so much time away from home and even four or five days at home, which I’ve had, is fantastic.”
Those five days were spent balancing family time with short, focused stints in the nets. The left-hander has not played competitively since the Plunket Shield wrapped up in late March, but he insists rust is not an issue.
“I haven’t played a game in a little while, and sort of obviously running the drinks in the IPL and getting opportunities to train and talk to guys has been great,” he explained. “But to be honest, I don’t really feel too out of match practice. I think it was a very, very hectic schedule beforehand.
“Part of the reason [for coming home] was to do a little bit of training and prepare for what’s to come because we know Test cricket is super important, especially a series in Ireland and England. I was down in Christchurch for a day and had a couple of training sessions down there. I had some nice grass facilities.”
The all-rounder argues that even without time in the middle, sharing dressing-rooms with some of the IPL’s senior professionals has value that translates to the longer format.
“There’s benefits to playing cricket and training. There’s also massive benefits being in the IPL too. I mean, you get to talk to someone like Ajinkya Rahane, who’s a lovely man who’s played so much cricket overseas, scored a hundred at Lord’s and played so much cricket against England and Australia away.
“The coach [Abhishek Nayar] used to be the assistant batting coach for India. You got Shane Watson, who is our batting coach, who has played England a lot, coached a lot of guys who have played England. So it’s sort of, it’s more than just the T20 as well. Being able to sit down and talk to Virat [Kohli] about batting or talking to KL Rahul – all these guys who’ve done well and had success over periods of time.”
Ravindra is likely to slot into the middle order at Lord’s, where he made a century on ODI debut last year. This time he will have the services of a fully-stocked pace attack behind him, with Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke both fit after long layoffs.
“I think we had a few injuries last summer and super excited to have those boys back,” Ravindra said.
New Zealand selectors believe the extra height of Jamieson and O’Rourke could be decisive on early-season English pitches, while Matt Henry’s control and Blair Tickner’s skiddy angle give the group balance. Ben Sears and Nathan Smith provide further pace options, meaning coach Gary Stead may have to leave out a senior seamer at Lord’s.
For Ravindra, though, the immediate focus is simpler: settle quickly, find rhythm, and convert the freshness gained at home into runs abroad. The coming six-week block in Dublin, Lord’s and Headingley will reveal whether a “great little refresh” is as good for performance as it was for the mind.
