Black Caps all-rounder Rachin Ravindra has dislocated his right shoulder while diving for a catch during a promotional shoot for broadcaster Sky, leaving him in doubt for the start of India’s tour of New Zealand next month.
The 26-year-old was filming in Auckland on Wednesday when he went for the catch and landed awkwardly on a safety mat, RNZ reported. New Zealand Cricket said medical specialists assessed him on Friday and cleared him of any structural damage, but how quickly he returns will depend on how his rehabilitation goes over the coming weeks.
India’s three-format tour starts with a five-match T20 series on 22 October. That gives Ravindra a little over four weeks to get back to full fitness, and New Zealand Cricket has not said whether he will make it. The T20 squad is due to be named next week.
Black Caps performance manager Mike Sandle called it a freak accident and said the shoot had been planned with safety in mind. “It was a really unfortunate injury,” Sandle said. “We’re gutted for Rachin and our key priority is making sure he recovers well and gets back on the field as soon as he can.”
He added that “As with all commercial shoots involving our players, the activities were agreed in advance by all parties, with appropriate safety measures in place.” Sandle said New Zealand Cricket would keep reviewing its processes around events like this in future.
Head coach Rob Walter made it clear the team will not hurry Ravindra back for the white-ball games when there is a long run of Test cricket ahead. “With a heavy schedule of Test cricket in the next six months, we don’t want to rush Rachin back sooner than we need to,” Walter said. He said Ravindra was in good hands with his rehabilitation and the team looked forward to having him back soon.
The injury is an awkward one for both New Zealand Cricket and Sky. Players take part in promotional filming as part of their commercial obligations, and the broadcaster uses that footage to build interest in the summer’s cricket. A dislocated shoulder from a staged catch is exactly the kind of setback those shoots are designed to avoid, which is why Sandle stressed that the activities were signed off in advance. The NZ Herald and Stuff also reported the injury, with neither carrying a comment from Sky.
The India tour is the centrepiece of the home summer. After the five T20 internationals come five one-day internationals, then two Tests. The first Test starts at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on 19 November and the second at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on 27 November. Series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka follow later in the summer, which is the heavy Test schedule Walter was talking about.
Missing some or all of the T20 series would be a blow to the side, but losing Ravindra for the Tests would hurt far more. The Wellingtonian has become one of the first names picked in all three formats since his T20 international debut in Bangladesh in September 2021. His highest Test score is 240 against South Africa at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui in February 2024, which was his maiden Test century and remains the highest first Test hundred by a New Zealand batter, according to his career record.
He made his name on the world stage at the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, where he scored three centuries at his first World Cup. He followed that by being named player of the tournament at the 2025 Champions Trophy, where he scored a century on debut against Bangladesh and finished with 263 runs at an average of 65.75.
It is not the first time a fielding mishap has sidelined him. In February 2025, in a one-day tri-series match against Pakistan at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, Ravindra lost a high catch in the floodlights and was struck in the forehead. He needed treatment for a cut and went through a head injury assessment, and the quality of the stadium lighting was widely questioned afterwards. He recovered in time to star at the Champions Trophy a few weeks later.
That recovery is the hopeful precedent this time. A shoulder dislocation with no structural damage often means weeks of strengthening work rather than surgery, and the medical assessment on Friday was the best news New Zealand Cricket could have hoped for after Wednesday’s fall. The selectors will now have to decide next week whether to name Ravindra in the T20 squad and hope he is ready, or leave him out and give him a clear run at the one-day and Test matches that follow.
For a side preparing to host the world’s biggest cricket nation, the timing could hardly be worse. India tours draw large crowds and big television audiences, and Ravindra, whose parents moved to Wellington from Bengaluru, is one of the players both sets of fans most want to see.
Should New Zealand Cricket rethink what players are asked to do in promotional shoots, or was this simply bad luck? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
Leave a Reply