dailynewsnblog
NEW DELHI: A first IPL wicket, followed by a piece of paper pulled from the pocket carrying a heartfelt message – Raghu Sharma’s emotions and 15-year wait were evident as he claimed the maiden IPL wicket of his career. Raghu was playing just his second IPL match on Monday against Lucknow Super Giants and dismissed debutant Akshat Raghuwanshi for 11 to bag his first IPL scalp.
The note read: “Radhe Radhe. A very painful 15 years, by divine mercy of Gurudeva, ended today. Thanks, Mumbai Indians (Blue and Gold), for giving me this opportunity. Ever grateful. Jai Shri Ram.”
After Mumbai Indians won the match by six wickets, Raghu expressed his emotions while speaking to IPLT20.com.
“It’s a dream come true for me that I got a maiden IPL wicket. First of all, I just want to thank my Gurudev, my spiritual guru. He is Shri Shyam Das. And my mother and father for supporting me. I was like, if I take a wicket, I will definitely put that (note) out. I just want to thank Mumbai Indians because it has been a painful 15 years for me – how I started cricket and a lot of things happened in my life as well,” Raghu said.
“But today, just by the grace of God, I came here, and by MI’s grace, you can say that I am very grateful to this franchise. They have supported me and believed in me. They have backed me as well. They retained me. And now I am just giving them the confidence that yes, I can do that for them as well,” he said.
Raghu, who was drafted into the MI setup last season as an injury replacement for young Vignesh Puthur and retained this season, comes from a family of engineers and doctors.
An electrical engineering graduate, Raghu decided to pursue cricket after being inspired by MS Dhoni’s iconic World Cup-winning six in the 2011 final against Sri Lanka. He began taking the game seriously only after turning 18.
“I will just speak about how I was in 2011. We have a family background where everyone is an engineer or a doctor. I am also an electrical engineer. But I was not that fit. I was around 102 kgs. Still, I worked hard. When Dhoni sir hit that six, it gave me the determination that I can also do this. But my father said, you can’t do this because you are overweight. You have to run and do a lot of hard work. Cricket is not for you,” he said.
“I started at 21, so all age-group cricket was finished for me. But I was very determined and focused on my target that I will definitely do everything. I slowly, steadily did it, and I learned a lot through experience. I played in Sri Lanka, I played county cricket in England. So, there I got a lot of experience,” Raghu said.
“I just want to say that age is just a number. If you are preparing yourself, especially for this kind of platform, you need to think, you need to be hardworking, but at the same time you have to be mentally very strong and stable because it needs maturity rather than just skills. Skills also matter, but I think maturity is the main thing which will definitely make you a good bowler, especially on this platform. Bhagwan Jagannath has supported me a lot. I went to Puri — I remember I was training on the beach and taking Mahaprasad. When I was there, at that moment I felt that when Bhagwan is there, everything is possible for me,” he added.
Advertisement
130825553
“These 15 years and even now, I have practiced leg spin six days a week, and even now I bowl around 10 overs regularly. If you are a bowler, you have to keep bowling. Then automatically your wrist will work. So that’s what kept me going, and even now I always have a plan before a match – how I am going to bowl and what aspects I want to work on. These things have helped me over 15 years. Now you can see the results,” Raghu said.
