Hailing from Bengal, Laxmi Ratan Shukla made his first-class debut in the 1997-98 Ranji season against Maharashtra. He made it to the India Under-19 team for the MTN Youth World Cup in 1998. The next season, he hit a match-winning century as an opening batsman in the Wills Trophy semi-final against Delhi.

In 2000, Shukla was picked to train at the National Cricket Academy but dropped out due to injuries. He had a disastrous beginning to his ODI career when he was hit for 32 runs in 4 overs against Sri Lanka in his debut. Later, he performed decently at the Coca Cola series against West Indies, but was unfortunately ignored by the selectors. He participated in the rebel league but backed out soon after BCCI’s announcement of fee hikes for domestic players. Shukla was then awarded with the captaincy of Bengal following an Indian T20 league contract where he represented Kolkata till 2013. In 2014, he was picked up by Delhi.