'Strange': New Zealand star Rachin Ravindra on seeing his name for IPL auction

During the mini-auction on Tuesday in Dubai, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings went after the youngster right off the bat.

However, the defending champions got the services of the all-rounder for Rs 1.8 crore.

"It was a strange feeling, but it was nice to have a couple of boys around me. It's really exciting you grow up watching IPL, always weird to see yourself on TV with paddles going up," Rachin said as quoted saying to New Zealand Cricket.

Rachin's teammate Daryl Mitchell was also signed by five-time champions, CSK, for a whooping sum of Rs 14 crore.

The 24-year-old expressed his happiness for his compatriot and said, "Watching Daryl's auction was special I am so happy for him."

Mitchell also expressed his eagerness to share the same dressing room with Rachin and Santner and said, "I grew up with Mitch (Santner) since we were about 12 years old. And now, with Dev and Rachin in the team as well, it is going to be good fun. And again, a lot of the Indian players - the cool thing about the IPL is that you get to rub shoulders with some world-class players, so really looking forward to that."

Mitchell is an established member of the Kiwi batting line-up across all formats, having played 20 Tests, 39 ODIs and 56 T20Is. In the last season of the IPL, the Kiwi opener did not take part in the tournament.

His last season was in 2022 with Rajasthan Royals (RR). He played only two matches in the extravagant T20 tournament and scored 33 runs.

The explosive batter was New Zealand's second-most successful batter in WC 2023, scoring 552 runs in 10 matches with two centuries and two fifties at an average of 69.00. The all-rounder has 1,069 runs for Kiwis in 56 T20Is at an average of 24.86, with five fifties and eight wickets as well. He is a batting all-rounder.

On the other hand, Rachin's breakthrough period in international cricket was during the 2023 World Cup in India. Rachin, regarded as one of the showpiece event's young talents, demonstrated his worth with his outstanding stroke play by hitting his maiden World Cup hundred in his debut game against England in the curtain-raiser. (ANI)