Mumbai's very own Angkrish Raghuvanshi is over the moon after he was lapped up by his existing team Kolkata Knight Riders for a good-looking Rs 3 crore at the IPL 2025 Auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Raghuvanshi was initially bought by KKR prior to the IPL 2024 season for Rs 20 lakh and the young batter had impressed with a quickfire fifty against Delhi Capitals in his first hit of the tournament in Visakhapatnam.
The Knight Riders eventually went on to win the IPL 2024 crown led by the inspiring Shreyas Iyer.
The 20-year-old Angkrish has been in great form off late for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy as well having slammed a solid 92 against Odisha in their Elite Group A clash earlier this month.
"I'm just happy to get an opportunity to express myself and hopefully I can win my team some games,'' Angkrish stated in an exclusive chat with The Free Press Journal.
Looking ahead to the IPL 2025 edition, Angkrish was looking forward to all the learnings that he can accrue.
"I look at it as a good way to learn and grow and hopefully we can win it again,'' an elated Angkrish said referring to KKR's attempt at defending their IPL title.
The Knight Riders were swamped with some of the world's best players in their ranks, be it Indian or overseas and Angkrish stated it was a dream for him to rub shoulders with all of them.
"It was a dream come true, it's what I've prepared for my entire life and I'm grateful to get a chance to have experienced it. I got a lot to learn from it,'' he added.
With regard to his learnings from his debut IPL season with the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned team, Angkrish had positive things to say.
"I learned how important it is to forget the previous games and be ready to do well and win in the next game," he added.
One of Angkrish's learnings from his current India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar in his early days keeps him in good stead even today.
"When I was younger, to work on my fitness, Abhishek sir made me run 30 floors on the stairs in a certain time. Just take the lift and go to ground floor and then run above 30 floors in a certain time,’’ Angkrish revealed the training method.