Clear message for Angkrish Raghuvanshi from former India player, asks him not to play wild shots too much

He also said that the KKR batter is world-class and in a couple of years' time he is going to be a big force to reckon with.

Updated on: May 17, 2026, 08:24:57 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Angkrish Raghuvanshi of Kolkata Knight Riders is not 22 yet, but he has already been batting like a mature batter. On Saturday night at the Eden Gardens, the right-handed batsman scored a 44-ball 82 not out to help his team to a 29-run win against Gujarat Titans and keep their slim play-off hopes alive.

Former India batsman Ambati Rayudu is in thrall to the Mumbai batsman, into his third season with KKR and getting better with every year. "I think his batsmanship is getting better. He has just become more confident, and we have seen him really develop into a batsman who can play in all phases. That is very, very unique. And also, his six-hitting has improved, if you look at it. Even though it's mostly against, you know, balls that are fuller, but I'm sure he will improve his six-hitting against other lengths," Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut.

Also Read: IPL playoff scenarios: KKR's big win keeps them alive, GT's quest for top two becomes complicated

This season, Raghuvanshi, who also keeps wicket for the Kolkata-based franchise, has scored 422 runs in 12 games so far at an average of 42.20 and a strike rate of 146.53. In a nice bit of trivia, Raghuvanshi is only the fourth player in IPL history to score five fifties or more before turning 22, and he has some big names keeping him company there, like Rishabh Pant, Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The rising graph of Raghuvanshi

“He is looking like a player whose graph is just rising, and he looks to be someone who, in a couple of years' time, will be a proper match-winner. I mean, a world-class match-winner, so this guy has tremendous potential, and he has a lot of time, like how Sanjay Bhai [Sanjay Bangar] mentioned. He has a lot of time against pace. He doesn't look like he's hurried. So that's a great sign for a young batsman," Rayudu added.

However, Rayudu as well as Bangar have a word of caution for him. They don't want him to focus too much on unorthodox shots because he can play with the straight bat really well. There were a few occasions when he executed those wild shots with great effect. First in the 6th over, he picked up a Kagiso Rabada delivery outside off-stump and hit it over fine leg for a six. Then, in the 19th over, bowled by Mohammed Siraj, he came up with a scoop for the same result. Later in the over, he reverse swatted between the keeper and short third for a four.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

Get live cricket scores, match updates, schedules, results and ICC rankings. Follow the latest news, statistics and performances of top teams and players on Hindustan Times.