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Former Australian cricketer and a former member of Rajasthan Royals, Shane Watson, has witnessed the emergence of multiple young talents in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Since the inception of the league, the former batting all-rounder has had the opportunity to observe some of the budding talents from very close by. Angkrish Raghuvanshi is one of them.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi is among the talents who are being groomed under the observation of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management. The team has massive expectations of him as he has been showing signs of greatness from a very young age.
KKR has deep trust in Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Angkrish Raghuvanshi is now a 21-year-old keeper-batter. When he joined the Kolkata Knight Riders three seasons ago, he was a 19-year-old teenager. Ahead of the IPL 2026 season, the KKR team management had done some major reinforcement tasks to provide the squad with a new shape. They released multiple star players, but retained Raghuvanshi, which showed the immense trust of the management in the young gun.
Before the match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Shane Watson, KKR's assistant coach, explains why they have so much trust in the 21-year-old. Taking a step further, Watson even compared the keeper-batter with a young Sanju Samson. Watson, during his days with the Rajasthan Royals, got the opportunity to observe Sanju Samson closely.
Shane Watson compares Angkrish Raghuvanshi with a young Sanju Samson
In the pre-match press conference, ahead of the RCB vs KKR match in New Raipur, Watson said that Angkrish Raghuvanshi has developed himself a lot and will do better in the future as well.
“I’ve been fortunate over the years to see some unbelievably talented young cricketers in the IPL. I remember seeing Sanju Samson as a 17-year-old and being blown away by his skill level. Angkrish is another one of those players,” the KKR coach stated.
His skill development at 21 is honestly astonishing. We’ve seen flashes of what he can do, but there’s a lot more to come. What stands out is his ability to adapt to different conditions and bowlers while still having a wide range of shot options,” he added.
Watson mentioned a net session incident
To describe the evolving talent of the Delhi-born, Watson mentioned one of their net sessions in Raipur, which was done on a challenging surface. The wicket was not easy to bat on, but till Angkrish did well enough to impress the assistant coach.
“Even in training yesterday, on a challenging wicket, some of the things he was doing were ridiculous to watch. He’s only going to get better as he learns how to harness all that skill consistently. And now he’s keeping wickets too, which makes it even more impressive because he wasn’t originally a full-time keeper,” Shane Watson mentioned.
So far, in the IPL 2026, the keeper-batter has scored 269 runs, supported by three half-centuries, in 10 matches and 10 innings, with a strike rate of 135.85 and a batting average of 29.88.
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