Raghuvanshi sheds self-doubts in style

For someone in his third season of First Class cricket, with just five appearances to show for it, a maiden century can mean more than a three-figure score. In Mumbai’s fiercely competitive cricket circuit, despite having proven his credentials in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Angkrish Raghuvanshi had begun to question whether he possessed the game for the longer format.

On Monday, the Mumbai opener answered those doubts with a fluent 114 against Haryana in the Ranji Trophy at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground, laying the foundation for his team’s commanding position on the opening day.

“Within me, there were some doubts. Unless I was able to prove it to myself, I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to do it,” Raghuvanshi admitted. His previous First Class outing had left a somewhat bitter memory. In his second match, against Odisha in the 2024-25 season, he fell for 92 and eventually lost his place after his third appearance.

“I know how tough it is to play for Mumbai. All India players play here, so those thoughts started creeping in, whether I would get a maiden hundred or not,” he said. Raghuvanshi sought counsel from his coach Abhishek Nayar, under whose wings he has been ever since moving to Mumbai from Delhi more than a decade ago for furthering his cricket ambitions, when he began questioning his red-ball credentials.

“I was making it a huge thing in my head that maybe I don’t have the skills to play red-ball cricket. I asked him what I was doing wrong and whether I was not disciplined enough. The only thing he told me was, ‘at the end of the day, it’s cricket’,” he recalled.

Raghuvanshi had started the season with consecutive double hundreds in under-23 cricket before earning a Ranji Trophy recall last week in Bilaspur. His century on Monday offered a timely reminder of his potential — and a compelling case for a longer run in Mumbai’s senior side.