Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has asked Kolkata Knight Riders’ Angkrish Raghuvanshi to work on his power game against the fast bowlers amid the ongoing IPL 2026. The right-hander scored a match-winning knock of 59 runs off 47 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the run chase of 166 at Hyderabad on Sunday.
The 21-year-old has scored 268 runs in nine matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 33.50 and a strike rate of 137.43. He is the leading run-getter for KKR this season.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “He has crossed 250 runs at a 140 strike rate. He is Abhishek Nayar’s disciple and is highly talented. I believe his power game and full potential will be on display in the next two to three-year cycle. He has all the shots but just lacks that explosive power component.”
“It may be his lack of strength or lack of confidence to play big shots against fast bowlers. If he can just work on these, he will be the player to watch out for in the next mega auction.”
Ashwin praised KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane for bowling Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine at the right time against SRH. The spin duo collectively bagged five wickets in their eight overs.
He added, “Sunil Chakaravarthy was why KKR won this. Rahane used Narine with the new ball and Varun Chakaravarthy at the ideal times after the powerplay. Rahane has faced the heat in this IPL like nobody else. But today, his captaincy and catching were on dot. His batting was also good, but he could have accelerated more and gone after the net run rate.”
Chakravarthy returned with match-winning figures of 3-36 and Ashwin highlighted that the mystery spinner has clearly made a concious effort to slow things down.
“Varun Chakaravarthy has clearly made an effort to slow everything down from his run-up to bowling speed. The young SRH batters did not pick Varun. Once Varun gets that feeling with batters, he destroys them. It’s when a batter smashes him, like Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, he runs and bowls fast. But his dismissal of Head was the turning point of the game,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).
Kolkata Knight Riders will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on Friday.
