Riyan Parag, a new notable face in the Indian Premier League, has been in the news for the wrong reasons for a while now. The Rajasthan Royals‘ middle-order batsman first made a headline for mocking the third umpire. Later, the youngster showed frustration with his senior teammate Ravichandran Ashwin following a run-out due to miscommunication. The youngster also got into a heated argument with Harshal Patel. In an interview pre-IPL, the youngster stated that he aspires to be the best finisher in Indian cricket, but his actions don’t reflect so. Parag has been inconsistent for the past few seasons, and the Indian cricket Legend Madan Lal didn’t hesitate to speak up about the youngster’s poor run.
Indian World Cup-winning all-rounder Madan Lal, in his interview with Sports Tak, stated that “Riyan Parag has played all matches but hasn’t given a single performance.” The Indian Legend seemed disappointed by the approach of the youngster. Madan Lal further said, “When you talk of him… he is not that big a player who can change the game. Until now, all the IPLs that have taken players, and all the players who have taken part, have shown improvement and stepped up. But this player (Parag) hasn’t shown any progress given the number of chances he has got.” The statement from Madan Lal makes high sense as the youngster’s record in IPL has been static, and he hasn’t been able to cross the 200-run mark in a single season of IPL.
Speaking about Parag’s batting order and the importance of the middle-order, Madan Lal said, “The slot at which he plays is very important in T20 cricket. Because that is where you can accelerate and score runs. Now, if you can’t score runs from there, your difficulties will only increase.”
The youngster has been a part of the Mega-league since 2019. And has a poor overall batting average of 16.84. His strike rate is also 124.88, which is relatively low considering he plays the role of a power-hitter at the end. Further, the youngster has only scored two half-centuries in his 47 outings, stating his inconsistency and lack of temperament.
However, The former Sri Lanka Skipper and Rajasthan’s head coach and director, Kumar Sangakkara, have backed the youngster. Supporting Parag, Kumar Sangakkara stated, “I think Riyan Parag… has got a huge amount of potential, and we got to work him into higher batting number by the time we come in next season. I look forward to kind of grooming him to become more of a kind of an early middle-order player rather than just a death-hitter. Because I think he is so accomplished against spin as well as pace.” Further, he also said that promotion in the batting order from next season would bring out the best in Parag.
