Raman made his Test debut in his home town Chennai against West Indies in 1987–88, top scoring in the second innings with 83 and taking a wicket in the first over that he bowled in Test cricket. India were bowled to victory in that match by Narendra Hirwani, who took 16 wickets (8/61 and 8/75). He played in 10 further Tests for India, until 1997. He also played in 27 One Day Internationals in the same period. However,he was relatively unsuccessful on the international stage. His only international century, 113, came in an ODI against South Africa in 1992–93.

Raman began his first class career as a left arm spinner but eventually turned into a batsman.He was a successful batsman in domestic cricket scoring three double centuries, including 313 against Goa, in the Ranji Trophy in 1988–89. His run aggregate, 1018, beat the record set by Rusi Modi 44 years previously.He retired from all forms of cricket in 1999 after being axed from TN Ranji Team.

After his retirement,Raman took to a successful career in coaching He has so far coached the Tamil Nadu and Bengal cricket teams in the Ranji Trophy besides the Indian U-19 team. He was even considered for the coaching position of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders in 2009.^[6] Currently he is the coach for the Bengal Ranji team.^[7] He has also written columns in various sports portals, notably Wisden, Sportstar and Cricinfo.^[8]In the IPL, he was the assistant coach of Kings XI Punjab in 2013.In the current edition of the IPL, he is the batting coach of Kolkata Knight Riders.

ODI centuries