Luke Ronchi

Born in New Zealand and brought up in Australia, Luke Ronchi is a wicket-keeper-batsman, who has played for both the countries. He migrated to Perth at a very early age and played First-Class cricket for Western Australia. Even during the early part of his career, Ronchi was known for playing powerful shots. With an impressive 2007-08 domestic season, he was called as a replacement for Brad Haddin against the West Indies. In the four ODIs Ronchi played, he showed his skill with the bat and behind the stumps.

Ronchi, scored the third fastest fifty for an Australian in the fourth match of the West Indies series. His fifty came off just 22 balls. However, after a fine start to his ODI career, his form with the bat declined and subsequently, was dropped from the state side as well.

After Ronchi was overlooked by Western Australia's think-tank, he shifted to the country of his birth. The Wellington set-up gave him a contract and he immediately made an impact, scoring runs and having a good time behind the wickets. After qualifying to play for New Zealand in 2013, he was called up for the series against England.

Ronchi has been considered as a specialist in the shorter formats of the game. He has been a regular member of the ODI and T20I squads since his New Zealand debut. He has played some crucial innings coming down the order. He scored back-to-back fifties against South Africa at home in October 2014, before doing reasonably well against Pakistan in the UAE. He and Grant Elliott also ripped apart Sri Lanka's bowling attack to stitch a record sixth-wicket stand of 267 in the fifth ODI of the seven-match series in Dunedin. Consistent performances made him a certainty in the squad for the 2015 World Cup.

New Zealand had a historical World Cup in 2015 as they finished runners-up, the first instance of the Kiwis making the finals in the showpiece tournament's history. Ronchi though, had a dismal tournament and his form kept dipping thereafter. His form in Twenty20 Internationals has been far worse with six single-digit scores in the last 10 innings that he has batted in. Not surprisingly, he was dropped after the home series against South Africa.

In 2017, the team management decided to push Ronchi to the opening slot in ODIs in a bid to create momentum at the top. The plan was with an eye on the Champions Trophy in England the same year and Ronchi did start to get his touch back. A few brisk starts resulted but he couldn't quite convert those. New Zealand failed to make the semifinals of the tournament and Ronchi was axed after the tournament. Considering that he is aging, it seems unlikely that he would be recalled, especially with the next World Cup another two years away. Ronchi has been a superstar in T20 leagues and continues to enjoy himself there.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan