KNOW YOUR PLAYER 
Follow UsAngkrish Raghuvanshi was two years old when IPL began in 2008. 16 years later, he has carved an IPL journey for himself, with a fifty in his debut innings, playing for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Promoted to number three against Delhi Capitals in Match 16, the 18-year old scored 54 off 27 balls with five fours and three sixes. His first scoring shot itself was a hallmark of things to come.
Anrich Nortje, not in the best of form, tried to subvert the new batter with a short ball. Raghuvanshi, as if he already knew what would come, shuffled away a bit and swiveled it away from the short fine-leg fielder for a four.
For a team that has struggled to cope with short balls in the past two seasons, Raghuvanshi’s start was like a breath of fresh air. The second ball, he punched through the gap for another four with pristine timing. He was 8 not out after his first two balls in the IPL.
Those first two balls gave a good sneak peek into the teenager’s mindset. He was not flustered by the razzmatazz of batting for the first time in such a league or facing Anrich Nortje. Coming in at 60/1 in 4.3 overs, he also had the onus of not letting the momentum die.
Raghuvanshi took care of all of it.
Batting alongside Sunil Narine, who scored 85 off 39 balls, he added 104 off 48 balls for the second wicket. Raghuvanshi contributed 49 off 24 balls to it.
While Narine was slogging it all around the park, Raghuvanshi had a classical flavor to his batting and scored at a strike rate in excess of 200. However, twice he went for the ramp shot, scoring a four against Axar Patel and then a six against Rasikh Salam, showing his unorthodox side.
Delhi bowled heavily on the shorter side of the pitch owing to the conditions. And Raghuvanshi was up to the task, scoring in the third man region and the mid-wicket area.
Originally from Delhi, he moved to Mumbai at a young age. Most youngsters from the Mumbai ecosystem come with a reputation, having scored a truckload of runs in school, club or domestic cricket. Raghuvanshi hasn’t played any first-class cricket yet. He came into the IPL with the experience of only seven T20s before and five List-A matches, with a total of 271 runs in both formats and a top score of 57 (his only fifty) against Kerala in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
However, he was the top scorer for India in the victorious 2022 U19 World Cup campaign, amassing 278 runs at an average and strike rate of 46.3 and 89.4 respectively. But he wasn’t among the breakout stars. The names that rose to fame in the aftermath were skipper Yash Dhull, vice-captain Shaik Rasheed, and all-rounders like Rajavardhan Hangargekar, Raj Bawa and Nishant Sandhu.
Probably Raghuvanshi’s time has come now. KKR bought him in the 2024 auction at his base price of INR 20 lakh. Promoted over the team’s captain Shreyas Iyer, he has certainly vindicated the team’s faith in him.
