Angkrish Raghuvanshi Joins The MCA-100 Club In Ranji Trophy

The noble game of cricket thrives on numbers — scores and statistics. In any format, cricket is a team sport, but its legion of fans are fascinated by individual feats… centuries, wickets, etc! On the first day of the third round of the Ranji Trophy Elite League, Mumbai opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored his maiden first-class century against Haryana at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s facility at the Bandra-Kurla Complex. The tall right-hander, who turns out for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, had been in and out of the MCA senior team, getting chances in the absence of Yashasvi Jaiswal (in New Zealand now) and Ayush Mhatre (ruled out with a serious hamstring injury). Raghuvanshi played a typical opener’s role and took 180 balls to make 114 with 13 x 4s and 1×6. He was capped two years ago, and in five Ranji matches, he had nothing big to show for it, just two 50s. The country’s leading cricket statistician, Mohandas Menon, WhatsApped in a jiffy that Raghuvanshi was the 119th Mumbai batter to score a century in the national championship that the MCA has won 42 times. The Delhi-born has a long way to go, but a few more centuries this season may get him a place in the India ‘A’ team, just like Shikhar Mohan of Jharkhand following his 1109 runs in 12 Ranji Trophy matches with 4 x 100s. The MCA centuries list in the Ranji Trophy is humongous, starting with Vijay Merchant in 1935. The MCA list includes some illustrious names; well, almost everyone on it is. Raghuvanshi has joined that list, but with the domestic competition so intense, he will have to log in “daddy 100s” to catch the national selectors’ attention.