Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell bowl spin to him, and Ravindra’s signature flamboyance is on full display. He backs away and clears his front leg, carving a glorious lofted cover drive. When one is tossed up and overpitched, he unleashes an on drive; but for the nets, it was comfortably clearing the boundary.
When Ravindra was initially hit, there were fears of a much more damaging injury. His legs buckled from underneath him as he stared at the ground, dazed and bleeding profusely. He received lengthy treatment as he lay prone with a stretcher brought on, and warm empathic applause rippled as he was gingerly led off the outfield.
But every update that came from the New Zealand camp in the incident’s wake was more optimistic than the last. He hadn’t been concussed, he hadn’t lost consciousness, there was no damage to his eyes, nose or teeth. A “chirpy character”, Kane Williamson called him, his personality was largely back to normal by New Zealand’s next game, but they weren’t going to take any chances with him.
“Rachin will train tonight and we’ll get a bit more of an indication of how he’s going,” Latham had said just moments earlier. “His recovery’s going good, but just need to make sure since it was a pretty nasty injury. When it’s a head injury you just need to make sure things are all right, so just going through the protocols he needs to go through and we’ll wait and see.”
In the fortnight since New Zealand have been in Pakistan, they have taken such setbacks in their stride. This is the side that, most famously, is greater than the sum of its parts. Devon Conway took Ravindra’s place for the remainder of the tri-series; he scored 97 and 48 as they won the trophy. In this time, Lockie Ferguson and Ben Sears also became unavailable, but no bother; Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy replaced them without any apparent hardship. Kyle Jamieson will not be available tomorrow but is on his way as Ferguson’s Champions Trophy replacement, and New Zealand simply chug along.
“It’s about adapting to conditions and surfaces as best we can,” Latham said. “The surface we played on here against Pakistan looked slightly different to the one Pakistan played on against South Africa. We’ll have a look at what the wicket’s like today but it’s about adapting as best we can. We’ve played three games here and a warm-up game, so guys are reasonably familiar with conditions and it’s about playing our brand to the best of our ability.”
New Zealand have not so much treated the last ten days as a dry run as a platform to showcase their repertoire. They won a game by consolidating with the top order and exploding at the death. In the game against South Africa, they demonstrated their quality in pursuit of 304, Williamson leading a cruise of a chase. In the final, the pace and spin attacks combined to asphyxiate Pakistan for a below-par total, the outcome never in doubt. They won three games in three different ways with just about everyone taking turns to shine.
“It’s nice to be performing,” Latham said. “Throughout the tri-series and the warm-up game, we’re fortunate everyone within the squad has had some time with the ball or bat. Nice that we’ve been playing well through the tri-series. We were put under pressure in all three games and we’ve obviously managed to overcome that and come out on the right side. We’ve got the results but at the same time, it’s nice we’ve been able to overcome that pressure which will hopefully hold us in good stead.”
By now, the spinners have had their turn, and Jacob Duffy and Will O’Rourke are having a go. Ravindra stands back, well away from the stumps. He lingers by the corner, watching intently, perhaps acclimatising himself to the pace from that angle without putting himself in harm’s way. A short while later, he emerges from the nets, thanking the net bowlers before having a long chat with Tim Southee, here in Pakistan as an ICC ambassador, before disappearing into the dressing room.
He emerges half an hour later, helmet gone and ball in hand, but only uses it for throwdowns rather than the usual left-arm orthodox. Conway, Williamson and bowling coach Shane Jurgensen huddle around him and another lengthy conversation follows. Evidently, if New Zealand are to play him, they want to make absolutely sure he’s all right to take the field.
And if they don’t, they’ve shown they can cope just fine, too.
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
