Every now and then Venky Mysore makes rounds in the nets for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The CEO goes about asking older, experienced, and foreign players about young people they are impressed with during those sporadic trips. “Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, and Sherfane Rutherford… all of them have said Angkrish Raghuvanshi…They said his sincerity, focus, and preparation were exceptional,” Mysore told Cricbuzz.
As if it were meant to be, Raghuvanshi’s opportunity came when the team’s captain from the previous campaign, Nitish Rana, sustained an injury in the opening match. Shubman Gill received his first IPL cap from the squad last week in their second match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the team that had previously trained him. He didn’t have to do anything because the game ended before he had a chance to bat.
What an amazing debut that was! He confronted two balls at once, and they were, bang, fours. The bowler was Anrich Nortje, no average client with the fresh ball. The self-assured young player, who had a part in India’s 2022 Under 19 World Cup victory in the Caribbean, did not care about reputation. “I’m not making this up; he reminds me of Rohit (Sharma),” adds Dinesh Lad, who was trained by Sharma to teach him the ins and outs of the industry. At the Swami Vivekananda School in Borivili, a Western suburb of Mumbai, Rohit was Lad’s student.
Following his introduction to Lad by former India all-rounder Abhishek Nayar, who is also an assistant coach at KKR, Raghuvanshi attended the same institution. “He was taken to my school by Abhishek, and I took him under their supervision. His discipline and earnestness really impressed me, but his degree of confidence really stood out. This youngster is one of the few players that I have ever seen play the shot with as much confidence as Rohit used to have, Lad remarks.
When Raghuvanshi was eleven years old, his Delhi-born parents gave him over to Nayar and Omkar Salvi, the former bowling coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders who led the Mumbai squad to the Ranji Trophy this year. Both took the young man from Delhi under their wing and developed his gift. “I give a lot of credit to Abhishek for the kid’s growth,” Mysore says. He would frequently attend the KKR nets and visit the KKR academy in Kolkata. In the most recent auction, the franchise paid his base price of Rs 20 lakh to acquire him.
“He approached me in the ninth grade. He was a Harris Shield player. Cricket has always been his passion. Coming from Delhi, he was not familiar with Marathi. It was one of the subjects on his syllabus, which he excelled in. I believe he received good grades on the Class 10th exam. He also performed well in school cricket. He was formerly an open person. I can say that he has a great deal of self-confidence based on his performance yesterday. Lad continues, “I think he and Rohit have a lot in common. “He has a good future.”
