New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra leveraged his time with the Kolkata Knight Riders during the 2026 Indian Premier League to prepare for upcoming Test matches in Europe, despite not playing any games for the franchise.
The national squad is set to play a historic first men's Test against Ireland starting May 27, 2026, in Belfast, followed by a three-match Test series against England beginning June 4, 2026, at Lord's.
Ravindra returned home early to shift his focus to red-ball cricket, having consulted elite international players and coaches during his IPL stint.
Learning from the Best
“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,” Ravindra told ESPNcricinfo.
The left-handed batsman sought advice from KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, while also consulting senior Indian players during matchdays.
“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,” he added.
The franchise allowed Ravindra to leave early to rest and train in New Zealand before joining the national team camp in Ireland.
“I mean KKR were very welcoming and understanding of the situation. 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,” Ravindra said.
The early departure helped him break from the heavy travel schedule of the T20 tournament and adjust his training for red-ball conditions.
“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,” he said.
