Hailing from Madras (now Chennai), Raman is a former Indian opening batsman. His first-class career spanned from 1982 to 1999, where he represented Tamil Nadu.

He was a prolific run-scorer for Tamil Nadu, amassing 7939 first-class runs. His prime came in the 1988-89 season when he notched up 1018 runs - a then record, which has been surpassed by only 15 other batsmen so far. In that season, Raman stroked up two double tons and a triple century.

Raman's start to international cricket was auspicious, top-scoring with 83 and picking up a wicket in his first over against West Indies in front of his home crowd in Chennai. In 1992, he became the first Indian to raise an ODI century in South Africa.

Even as his international career was short-lived, Raman has been in the Indian coaching circuit for a long time, serving as the coach of Tamil Nadu (2005-2007), Bengal (2001-02, 2010-13), as the assistant coach with Kings XI Punjab (2013) and as the batting consultant of Kolkata Knight Riders (2014). Since 2015, he has been working as the batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy. In this period, he has also played the role of a coach for various India A and Duleep Trophy and under-19 teams.

In December 2018, Raman was appointed as the coach of the Indian women's team, taking over the role from Ramesh Powar.