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.
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.
