Angkrish Raghuvanshi hammered a maiden fifty in his first outing in IPL 2024.
KKR batted first and posted 272/7 in 20 overs, the second-highest-ever score in IPL history. Sunil Narine had led the way with an 85-run knock, while Andre Russell (41) and Rinku Singh (26) played cameos to push the total to KKR’s highest-ever in IPL.
But the most impressive knock came by Angkrish Raghuvanshi, the 18-year-old, who got his first chance to bat in the middle. The youngster smacked 54 runs off 27 balls, packed with five fours and three sixes.
After the match, Raghuvanshi was congratulated by Shah Rukh Khan, and the Bollywood superstar also hugged him.
Speaking about the meeting, Raghuvanshi said, "Obviously, it is very special. I don't know if he knows my name or if he does. But I have seen him on television since my childhood. So meeting him like this feels very nice."
He also opened up on his celebration, where he pointed his finger to his head, similar to Manchester United's Marcus Rashford.
"I did that celebration for Nitish bhaiya. He is injured and both of us are Manchester United fans. I did that for him," he added.
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Angkrish made his debut in the last game against RCB as an Impact Player but didn't get to bat. Angkrish stitched together a 104-run stand with Sunil Narine and scored his maiden IPL fifty in his first appearance.
The youngster had played a fantastic reverse sweep for a six and revealed that Nayar was the one who trained him to play such shots and had been working with him since his childhood.
"I would like to dedicate this knock to my coach, Abhishek Nayar, and my teammates and the support staff. I have a learned a lot staying with them. Abhishek sir has been working with me since my childhood. All this reverse sweep and all, he made me practice a lot. So, the main man is him only," said Angkrish.
Angkrish said he is hopeful of donning the Indian jersey and claimed that he wants to be different in doing so.
"To obviously don the Indian jersey. But to wear it like no one has ever done before. Everyone will look at me and say, I'm different," said Angkrish.
(ANI inputs)