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Angkrish Raghuvanshi Century: In the pre-season practice match played at Eden Gardens, 20-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi has created a pleasant challenge for the KKR management by scoring a stormy century at a strike rate of 187.27. His innings helped in achieving the target of 200 runs. While captain Ajinkya Rahane was out cheaply. Karthik Tyagi's brilliant bowling (3/30) amid Harshit Rana's injury is a relief news for the team, but Angkrish's batting order has now become a topic of discussion.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi played a century innings.
New Delhi. The echo of IPL 2026 has started being heard on the grounds of Eden Gardens. In the pre-season intra-squad practice match of Kolkata Knight Riders, a 20-year-old youth played such an inning which gave sleepless nights to head coach Abhishek Nair and KKR management. Angkrish Raghuvanshi created havoc with his batting in the practice match played on Friday. Batting at number 3 for 'Purple Knights', Angkrish scored a brilliant century at a strike rate of just 187.27. In this innings, he hit 9 fours and 5 skyscraper sixes, due to which his team achieved the target of 200 runs in just 19.2 overs.
In the first innings, senior batsman Rinku Singh maintained his rhythm and played a brilliant inning of 45 runs in 25 balls. Apart from him, Tim Seifert (30 runs) and Delhi's Sarthak Ranjan (37 runs) also impressed. Karthik Tyagi was most successful in bowling, he took 3 wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs. The 'Purple Knights' had a bad start while chasing the target. Captain Ajinkya Rahane returned to the pavilion after scoring only 2 runs. Finn Allen contributed 23 runs, but Angkrish showed the real game. Manish Pandey and Ramandeep Singh failed in the middle order, but in the end Anukul Roy (28 runs) supported Angkrish well.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi played a century innings.
Temperament of bowling and pitches
The Eden Gardens pitch once again looks like a paradise for batsmen, where even the score of 200 does not seem safe. The best news for KKR is the performance of Karthik Tyagi. After Harshit Rana's serious knee injury, Tyagi seems to be the strongest contender to fill his place. At the same time, Umran Malik also bowled 3.2 overs, which is a relief for the franchise.
'Sweet pain' for Abhishek Nair
Angkrish Raghuvanshi's century is creating a tricky situation for KKR. Like last season, the team wants to play him at number 3, but the equation of playing eleven is coming in the way. Ajinkya Rahane is the captain, so it is certain that he will play in the top-order, even if his form in T20 is a matter of concern. If KKR plays the trio of Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Cameron Green (who is not yet associated with the team), then the top-4 slots will be filled. In such a situation, Angkrish, who is in excellent form, may have to bat lower in the middle order like last year, which will not be justice to his natural game.
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Active in journalism for about 15 years. Studied from Delhi University. Interested in sports especially cricket, badminton, boxing and wrestling. Covered IPL, Commonwealth Games and Pro Wrestling League events. From February 2022…read more
