When the IPL 2026 auction closed and Lucknow Super Giants had paid Rs 2.2 crore for a 22-year-old from Ashoknagar, a small Madhya Pradesh town best known for its Sharbati wheat, cricket followers had one question: who exactly is Akshat Raghuwanshi?
The answer, depending on which version of his career you look at, is either a player who has been quietly delivering impressive red-ball numbers for years, or a T20 power-hitter who made scouts stop and stare with a single innings. The full picture is both.
Akshat Raghuwanshi Age and Early Life
Akshat Raghuwanshi was born on 15 September 2003 in Ashoknagar, Madhya Pradesh, and is 22 years old. He hails from Gwalior and began his cricketing journey under his father’s guidance, quickly progressing through age-group levels and eventually captaining the Madhya Pradesh Under-19 team in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. The path to cricket was never a default choice. It was a deliberate one made very early. He started playing cricket at four or five years old, with his father making him play with a plastic or rubber ball all day long. By the time he was 10, he had already decided that cricket would be his profession, and when he was that same age, he moved to Indore because Ashoknagar had no proper playing facilities.
Akshat Raghuwanshi Father Name and Family
His father’s name is Krishna Pal Raghuwanshi and he has a brother named Rajat Raghuwanshi. His father was his first coach, the one who introduced him to the game with a rubber ball in hand, laying the technical and mental foundation before passing him on to formal coaching. That handover came at exactly the right time. When he was 10 or 11, he began training under Amay Khurasiya, the former India cricketer who served as head coach at the MPCA academy, who taught him the techniques and basics of the game. The combination of a father who built the love and a former India cricketer who built the craft is visible in how Raghuwanshi bats today: fearless aggression sitting on top of a technically sound foundation.
Akshat Raghuwanshi IPL Team and the Auction Story
Entering the IPL 2026 auction with a base price of Rs 30 lakh, his domestic T20 numbers triggered a bidding war between multiple franchises. Lucknow Super Giants ultimately acquired him for Rs 2.20 crore. The moment he found out was not from a text or a notification. He learned of his selection during the auction from teammate Avesh Khan, and described the experience as an emotional rollercoaster. He had gone into that auction with one stated goal: just get picked by someone. He said before the auction that his only expectation was that some team would pick him up. Getting bought for Rs 2.2 crore was far beyond what he had allowed himself to imagine.
Akshat Raghuwanshi Ranji Trophy Stats: A Century on Debut
The red-ball foundation that convinced Chandrakant Pandit to back him is built on a remarkable debut. On his first-class debut for Madhya Pradesh in the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy, he scored a century against Meghalaya, followed by a half-century in his very next game, underlining his ability to adapt immediately to senior cricket despite limited prior exposure. He was part of the team that won Madhya Pradesh’s maiden Ranji Trophy title that same season. Across 10 first-class matches, he has scored 421 runs at an average of 32.38, including four half-centuries and that debut century.
At 17, former coach Chandrakant Pandit praised his performance in an Under-19 practice match where he scored 165 runs, noting his confidence, courage, and maturity, which advanced his entry into the state setup.
Akshat Raghuwanshi Madhya Pradesh Premier League Stats: The Innings That Built the Hype
The innings that turned Raghuwanshi from a domestically respected name into an IPL-targeted one came in the Madhya Pradesh Premier League. He smashed 105 off 45 balls against the Bhopal Leopards, going on to hit 239 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 177, making him the standout batter of the tournament even though he did not top the run charts overall.
The endorsement that followed was one of the strongest any young domestic cricketer can receive. Venkatesh Iyer, his Madhya Pradesh senior, said of him: at 21, he had not seen a more talented player, and that big things were waiting for him in the future. Scouts and coaches began comparing him to Priyansh Arya as a potential IPL breakout star from the state T20 leagues.
Akshat Raghuwanshi IPL 2026 Debut: First Ball, First Six
In today’s IPL 2026 match against Mumbai Indians, Akshat Raghuwanshi walked out to bat having replaced Mukul Choudhary in the LSG XI. He announced himself immediately, hitting his very first ball in the IPL for a six over long-on off Will Jacks. For a team that has been searching for batting answers all season, that single shot was a statement that LSG may finally have found a middle-order option willing to take the game on without any hesitation.
He had said before the season that he would try to make IPL 2026 the turning point of his life. With that first ball six, the process has begun.
Why Akshat Raghuwanshi Is a Name to Remember
A boy from a small Madhya Pradesh town with no cricket infrastructure, coached first by his father with a rubber ball, then by a former India international, who scored a century on his Ranji debut, won a state title at 18, went through a lean patch, rebuilt himself in a state T20 league, earned an IPL contract worth 73 times his base price, and then hit his very first ball in the IPL for a six. Akshat Raghuwanshi is not just a prospect to watch this season. He is a story that is still only getting started.
Lucky Raina is a complete cricket writer chasing corporate dreams by day and cricket stories by night. Once a promising Under 16 cricketer, life took him down a different pitch but the love for the game never left.
