Raghu Sharma: Who is Raghu Sharma? Learned bowling by watching Shane Warne’s video, now debuted for MI at the age of 33!

CSK vs MI, IPL 2026: M.A. Chennai In this big match being played at Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk), Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya took a surprising decision. He handed his first IPL cap to experienced leg spinner Raghu Sharma. The story of Raghu, who is playing his first IPL match at the age of 33, is no less than a film script.

Who is Raghu Sharma? Left engineering and took up cricket

Born in Jalandhar (Punjab), Raghu Sharma made his first-class debut in 2017. Interestingly, he did not take cricket seriously till the age of 18. He was going to study electrical engineering, but India’s victory in the 2011 World Cup awakened in him the passion of becoming a cricketer. In connection with cricket, he has traveled to England and Galle in Sri Lanka.

weight was 102 kg

In an interview given to ESPN Cricinfo, Raghu, remembering his days of struggle, said that at one time his weight was 102 kg. He said, ‘If you see my old pictures on Facebook, two-three Raghus of today will merge with that old Raghu. At that time even the coach was not very excited to see me. But I was determined that I had to lose weight. I used to run alone on the field for hours in the scorching heat of 45-46 degrees in the afternoon and then bowl for two hours continuously. The result of this hard work was that I lost 30-35 kg of weight in 6 months.

Considers Shane Warne as his ‘Eklavya’ guru

Raghu is a big fan of legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne. Even today, he does not forget to watch Warne’s videos before every match. He told that he learned to grip the ball, bowl flipper and slider just by watching Warne’s 9-minute ‘Leg Spin Tutorial’ video. According to Raghu, Warne is his real mentor.

Mumbai got it in the auction at base price

In the IPL 2026 auction, Mumbai Indians bought Raghu Sharma at his base price of Rs 30 lakh. The special thing is that at that time he had the experience of only 4 T20 matches in his account, in which he had taken 4 wickets.

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