Rachin Ravindra put on an exhibition with the bat against Pakistan in Bangalore.
Opening the innings, the southpaw added 68 runs for the first wicket with Devon Conway (35) and followed it with a 180-run partnership with skipper Kane Williamson, who scored 95 off 79 balls.
In the process, Ravindra notched up his third hundred of this marquee event – the most by a batter in their debut World Cup edition. He reached the milestone during the 34th over off 80 deliveries.
With this century, the left-hander also became the player to hit most World Cup hundreds before turning 25, surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who had slammed two tons in World Cup matches before his 25th birthday.
Rachin Ravindra was eventually dismissed by Mohammad Wasim Jr for 108 off 94 balls. His knock was studded with 15 fours and 1 six.
After his dismissal, the likes of Daryl Mitchell (29 off 18), Mark Chapman (39 off 27), Glenn Phillips (41 off 25) and Mitchell Santner (26* off 17) produced handy cameos to help Kiwis post a mammoth total of 401/6 on the board.
Nearly all the Pakistani bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the BlackCaps batters. Mohammad Wasim Jr returned with decent figures of 3/60 in his allotted 10 overs.
For his stunning century in a crucial clash, Rachin Ravindra received rich praise from the cricket fraternity on social media platform X.
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