Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Raghu Sharma revealed that watching MS Dhoni hit the World Cup-winning six against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in 2011 inspired him to pursue cricket seriously despite battling obesity and doubts over his future in the sport.
Raghu, who picked up his maiden IPL wicket against Lucknow Super Giants, opened up about his journey after the match and said India’s 2011 World Cup triumph played a major role in changing the direction of his life.
Coming from a family of doctors and engineers in Jalandhar, Raghu was expected to follow a conventional career path and eventually became an electrical engineer. However, the 2011 World Cup victory motivated him to take up cricket despite starting late.
Raghu Sharma said, “I am talking about around 2011. Everyone in my family were doctors and engineers, so I became an engineer too — an electrical engineer. But considering my background, I was not fit. I weighed around 102 kilograms.”
He said watching Dhoni finish the World Cup final with a six made him determined to work towards becoming a cricketer. Raghu then began focusing heavily on fitness and leg-spin bowling while trying to break into professional cricket despite starting at the age of 21.
Recalling the challenges he faced early in his journey, Raghu said, “Even my father told me that because of your obesity, you won’t be able to do it. You will have to run a lot and work very hard. Cricket is not for you. I started at the age of 21, so all the cricket age-group opportunities were already over for me. But I was still determined and focused on my goal.”
Raghu added that faith and repetitive bowling practice helped him continue despite the setbacks.
“I had complete faith in God and believed that if God exists, then I would definitely make it. For six days a week, I practiced only leg-spin bowling. Even now, I bowl 10 overs every single day. If you are a bowler, you have to keep bowling continuously. Eventually, your wrist starts working naturally,” Raghu said.
The leg-spinner delivered an important moment for Mumbai Indians when he dismissed Akshat Raghuwanshi for his maiden IPL wicket. On the first ball of the 13th over, the batter stepped out looking for an attacking shot but was beaten in flight as the ball drifted in. The delivery took an inside edge and lobbed back towards Raghu, who completed the catch himself.
After taking the wicket, Raghu pulled out a note from his pocket that read, “Radhe-Radhe, Jai Shri Ram,” along with a thank-you message to Mumbai Indians for giving him the opportunity.
Mumbai Indians had initially bought Raghu for Rs 30 lakh last year and retained him for the current season as well. In 2025, he worked as a net bowler for the franchise before being signed midway through the season as an injury replacement for Vignesh Puthur. Although he did not play a game that year, the franchise retained faith in him, and he eventually made his IPL debut earlier this season against Chennai Super Kings.
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