'Jai Shree Ram … ': A note, a prayer, and Raghu Sharma's 15-year wait
Raghu Sharma (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)
NEW DELHI: It was a night for survival for the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2026 against the Lucknow Super Giants. And with a vintage Rohit Sharma show, and MI’s standout batter this season Ryan Rickelton in tow, MI brushed aside LSG to keep their IPL playoff chances alive, even if hanging by a thread. But the highlight of the night wasn’t necessarily Rohit’s roaring return from injury, or even Nicholas Pooran’s blistering half-century after a prolonged lean patch.
It was Raghu Sharma’s emotional gesture. A simple return catch. A first IPL wicket. And then - a piece of paper. Playing only his second IPL game, Sharma dismissed LSG debutant Akshat Raghuwanshi for 11. But the celebration, as is often the case with many wicket celebrations, wasn’t instinctive aggression. Instead, it was deliberate and deeply personal. After the wicket, Sharma held up a note - bringing back memories of Dinesh Ramdin’s “Talk na Viv” message, and closer home, Abhishek Sharma’s similar IPL hundred celebration last season. The cameras zoomed in, with even stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav trying, almost quizzically, to read the note. The moment went viral instantly. But nothing about the note was instant. It encapsulated Sharma’s journey to this very moment - 15 years in the making. The note read: “Radhe Radhe. A very painful 15 years, by divine mercy of Gurudeva, ended today. Thanks, Mumbai Indians (Blue and Gold), for giving me this opportunity. Ever grateful. Jai Shri Ram.”
The 15-year grind behind one wicket Sharma was drafted into the MI setup last season as an injury replacement for young Vignesh Puthur and was retained this season. After spending the initial few games on the bench, MI handed Sharma his debut against Chennai Super Kings a few days back, where he returned figures of 0/24. Looking back at Sharma’s path to his IPL moment, it was far from conventional. He didn’t grow up in elite systems. In fact, he began serious cricket only after turning 18. Starting as a fast bowler, Raghu had to reinvent himself, switching to leg-spin following a hamstring injury - largely self-taught. “I started legspin by watching his videos… I would watch it again and again, and try it out in the nets,” Raghu recalled, crediting Shane Warne as his virtual mentor, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo before the start of the season. But for someone who started serious cricket so late, it was always going to be tough to break through. “At 25, I was told I was too old,” Raghu said in the same ESPNCricinfo interview. His career then took him across geographies, and of grabbing second chances. He was dropped after a promising start for Punjab in the domestic circuit, and even his move to Puducherry did not yield consistent opportunities. He also had a full season of grade cricket in Sri Lanka, followed by club cricket stint in England, where he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Imran Tahir. The veteran helped Sharma reshape his bowling, adding variations and control. After failing fitness tests and falling out of selection contention, Raghu hit an emotional low. He stepped away briefly, reset mentally, and rebuilt physically. A strong domestic showing brought him back into the system. Mumbai Indians, the same franchise where he had once failed trials, gave him another shot. “I had to wait eight years but I came back to the same franchise… this time I came as a transformed person,” he told ESPNcricinfo. And throughout the journey, Raghu found solace in faith. “I feel God sees everything. If you are doing your work with discipline, you will definitely get the reward… I enjoyed even my failures,” he said in the same ESPNcricinfo interview. And that explains why his note began with ‘Radhe Radhe’ and ended with ‘Jai Shri Ram.’ On paper, Sharma’s figures read: 1 for 36 in four overs. Respectable at best. But in context, it was the end of a 15-year wait.
For all the emotion around that first IPL wicket, Raghu Sharma’s career numbers present a steady progression. In first-class cricket, he has picked up 57 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 22.03 and an economy of 3.27, including five five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket match performances. In List A cricket, he has 18 wickets from 12 matches at an average of 27.50 and an economy of 5.22. In T20s, he has taken 5 wickets in 6 matches, with an average of 34.40 and an economy rate of 7.81.