Angkrish Raghuvanshi, a young Kolkata Knight Riders player, made his Indian Premier League debut with an aggressive half-century against the Delhi Capitals. Raghuvanshi made his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, although he did not have the opportunity to bat at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Meanwhile, he dominated the stage with his diverse shot-making all over the pitch on Wednesday, smashing a 25-ball half-century at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Following Phil Salt’s early exit, Angkrish Raghuvanshi stepped out to bat at number three, and the 18-year-old wasted no time in striking back-to-back boundaries. He matched the rhythms with Sunil Narine, and the tandem unleashed devastation to demolish the DC bowling assault.
The 18-year-old smashed 54 runs off 27 balls with a strike rate of 200, including five fours and three sixes. Meanwhile, he and Narine (85) had a 104-run partnership, laying the groundwork for KKR’s massive total after Shreyas Iyer chose to bat first at the toss.
The right-handed hitter was removed by Proteas bowler Anrich Nortje while attempting to hit another huge shot.
With his sensational knock, he managed to get his name into a few KKR record books.
Brendon McCullum’s first-inning score of 158* against RCB in Bengaluru in 2008 is the highest for KKR in the IPL.
64: Manish Pandey against MI, Abu Dhabi, 2014.
58*—Owais Shah against Deccan, Mumbai DYP, 2010
54-J Kallis v. CSK, Chennai, 2011.
54: Phil Salt against SRH, Kolkata, 2024
54: Angkrish Raghuvanshi vs DC, Vizag, 2024
He also became the second-youngest KKR hitter to get a fifty in the IPL, joining Shubman Gill on the elite list.
Shubman Gill, the youngest to get a fifty for KKR in the IPL, was 18 years and 237 days old when he faced CSK in 2018.
18 years and 303 days – A Raghuvanshi versus DC, 2024
Who is Angkrish Raghuvanshi?
Angkrish Raghuvanshi was born on June 5, 2005, in Delhi, but at the age of 11, he moved to Mumbai and trained under Abhishek Nayar and Omkar Salvi. He plays domestic cricket for Mumbai and has become a well-known figure in the circuit due to his all-round talent as well as his batting.
The brilliant teenager drew notice at the 2022 U-19 World Cup, where he scored 278 runs and played a key part in India’s title-winning campaign under skipper Yash Dhull. He made his List A and T20 debuts in 2023 and had a standout performance in the CK Nayudu Trophy, scoring 765 runs in nine matches.
The KKR scouts performed well in shortlisting him for the auction, as the two-time champions paid INR 20 lakh to sign him, reuniting him with his boyhood coach Abhishek Nayar at the club.
