Angkrish Raghuvanshi has always been ahead of his time. At 17, he was India's top scorer at the Under-19 World Cup in 2022. At 19, he became a regular for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024. And now, even before his 22nd birthday, he is the team's leading Indian batter in IPL 2026.
KKR have arguably made a few errors over the years regarding which Indian batters to back between seasons and transitions - first Shubman Gill, then later Shreyas Iyer - but Raghuvanshi is one player the franchise have pushed all their chips in on. They were so assured of his place in the XII this season that they were thinking of added benefits, and had him work on his wicketkeeping during 2025-26 domestic campaign.
But eventually, it was always Raghuvanshi's batting that excited KKR, and he delivered again this season with his fifth half-century in 12 innings. The latest, against Gujarat Titans on Saturday in Kolkata, had shades of everything he does best - pristine timing combined with textbook technique - but also the innovation that has, at times, been missing from his game.
He walked in after Ajinkya Rahane fell for a run-a-ball 14 and was welcomed with a beauty. Mohammed Siraj bowled a length delivery outside off. Raghuvanshi shouldered arms. The ball missed the stumps by a whisker. Off his fifth ball, he survived a close lbw shout from Kagiso Rabada, but what he did next left jaws on the floor.
Rabada delivered another full-pace length ball outside off after the lbw appeal, but Raghuvanshi had seen enough. Getting low, he scooped Rabada over fine leg for six, and that seemed to unlock something in him. Soon enough, Raghuvanshi was depositing Jason Holder over fine leg with a pick-up flick and creaming R Sai Kishore over cover with a lofted drive. All for sixes. All this happened while Finn Allen had both the opposition and the home crowd captivated with his own 35-ball 93.
"Yes, it feels amazing, especially because we won," Raghuvanshi told the broadcaster after the game. "It got so easy for me [at the start]. I just had to give him [Allen] the strike and watch from the other end. That was my role at the start."
But once Allen departed, Rashid Khan bore the brunt of Raghuvanshi's timing - first a four through long-off, then a half-tracker spotted early and sent soaring over midwicket for a six. He raised his bat for fifty in the 17th over, getting there in 33 balls. That places him in elite company among youngsters in the IPL: only Rishabh Pant (2018), Devdutt Padikkal (2020) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (2023) have scored five or more IPL fifties before turning 22.
With time running out and plenty of runs still on offer on a flat Eden Gardens surface, the next challenge for the set Raghuvanshi was to make the most of his time at the crease. He had threatened to do so all season and here, finally, it came to pass.
He chose the 19th over, bowled by the man who had nearly pegged back his off stump first ball. At 18.2, Raghuvanshi went deep in his crease and lofted Siraj over extra cover for six. Two balls later, he crouched low and scooped Siraj's full toss over fine leg for another six. Next ball, Siraj predictably went slower, but Raghuvanshi waited before moving across and swiping him over fine leg for six more. He capped off the sequence of three sixes in four balls by swatting a boundary between the wicketkeeper and short third for a 25-run over.
ESPNcricinfo's forecaster after 18 overs predicted a total of 234, but six balls of Raghuvanshi versus Siraj pushed that projection up to 249. KKR eventually finished on 247, as Raghuvanshi faced only two balls of the 20th over bowled by Rashid. Even then, he unveiled the one shot he had not yet shown that night: a reverse sweep executed perfectly after picking Rashid's wrong'un. Raghuvanshi finished unbeaten on 82 off 44 balls. In a post-match interview, he revealed his addiction to batting.
"They have to kick me out of the nets," he said. "I hit a lot of balls. Ever since I was a kid, my coach Abhishek Nayar has gotten me used to hitting a thousand balls a day."
After scoring 163 runs in seven innings in his debut IPL season in 2024, Raghuvanshi made 300 runs in 11 innings last season. This year, he sits on 422 runs in 12 innings; only Cooper Connolly (436) and Heinrich Klaasen (508) have scored more among non-openers this season. It also makes him the most successful non-opening Indian batter this season.
A career T20 strike rate of 136 has been one reason why Raghuvanshi is not yet spoken about as an India contender. He wasn't selected for India A's upcoming T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A. But those who have worked closely with him see shades of Sanju Samson in him. Samson always looked at ease against high-quality bowling from a very young age, and Raghuvanshi did the same on Saturday against a line-up where all the bowlers are international quality.
His latest innings may or may not be enough to secure KKR's playoff qualification given their position (seventh) on the points table, but for his own career, he has laid down yet another marker. For saying he belongs not only in purple, but maybe in blue too.