The Mumbai Indians spinner is a late bloomer in professional cricket.
Mumbai Indians (MI) made an interesting move by signing Raghu Sharma, a net bowler in the team, as a replacement player for Vignesh Puthur in IPL 2025. Interestingly, he had minimal domestic experience then, and the franchise went on to retain him for the 2026 season despite not giving him any games last year.
Raghu, a late bloomer having started his career at 18, was previously trialled by Mumbai Indians in 2017 after Harbhajan Singh recommended him in 2016, but he couldn’t impress then. Initially, he started as a fast bowler, but one day he pulled a hamstring and started leg-cutters, and Madan Lal, a coach at the Jalandhar District Cricket Association, advised him to switch to leg-spin.
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He started watching Shane Warne’s videos and was guided by M Venkataramana and Rahul Sharma, both of whom have represented India before. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Raghu Sharma revealed how Imran Tahir’s guidance during his stint with Longton 1st XI, a club cricket team in the premier division of the North Staffs and South Cheshire League in England, transformed him as a bowler, and he added a lot more dimensions to his bowling.
“I was in Stoke-on-Trent. When I learnt Imran bhai was also playing a game there, I went to meet him. After the match, he took me to the centre wicket and gave me a good 40 minutes [of mentoring]. You know, he speaks Punjabi… he started telling me how he bowls the legbreak, how he bowls the googly. After that, I changed my action, which helped me with speed variation. Earlier, I would not bowl a googly, but thanks to him, I have mastered it a bit. Those things helped me straightaway. In the first half in England, I did not get too many wickets, but in the second, I took a bagful.”
Raghu Sharma has made significant progress as a bowler since his failed trials in 2017, and working with Mumbai Indians staff must have further improved his skills. However, he might have to wait a bit longer for that IPL debut since Mayank Markande might be MI’s first-choice leg spinner in the Indian department.
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Then, MI also have Mitchell Santner and Allah Ghazanfar in the squad, and one of them will be a permanent member in the XI. Santner will likely get the nod since he brings greater defensive skills and has evolved massively as a batter in the lower order.
Hence, Raghu will get his chances only if Mayank fails initially or is out due to injury or other reasons in IPL 2026. Still, it’s a long season, and chances can come any time since MI don’t have many local spin options to work with.
A lot will obviously depend on how much he impresses in the nets, as a lot of combinations and spots change due to recent form. Raghu Sharma needs to keep improving and adding variations to his armour since IPL requires spinners to be at their absolute best due to flat pitches.
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