NEWS
Follow Us22-year-old Riyan Parag is the most talked about player in the Indian Premier League (IPL) town. The youngster has absolutely torn upon the competition, with some sensational hitting that has seen him grow from strength to strength.
Barring the clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (4), he has shown consistency, with scores of 43, 84*, and 54* coming into the clash against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday (April 10). Having walked in to bat at a tricky situation at 42/2, he joined hands with Sanju Samson to decimate the Gujarat bowling unit.
Also Read: Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson, India's future No.4 and 5?
In between the two, they scored 130 off Rajasthan’s 196 on the night, and the youngster, in particular, pulsated with a 48-ball 76, showing range against both pace and spin. Has this consistency put the young all-rounder in contention for the national team?
"I don't know in that sense, it's way beyond me. I think his potential is there for everyone to see. I think for Riyan it's really about concentrating for Rajasthan and this season,” RR's Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, said in the post-match press conference.
“And whatever happens, will happen after that. Should never get too ahead of looking at things too far in the future and as long as he keeps his head down, he is working really hard, he is batting really well, he is very organised, he has worked hard off season, he just needs to keep doing those good things and if he does that, good things will happen,” he had to add.
Despite posting 196 on the board, Rajasthan were thoroughly dominated in the clash, with Gujarat Titans chasing yet another total in excess of 180. Sangakkara pointed out that the partnership between Samson and Parag was outstanding.
"First of all we batted really well, It was a tough period to start with. I thought the way Sanju (Samson) and Riyan (Parag) rebuilt our innings, Hetty (Hetmyer) with his cameo was outstanding, Jaiswal looked in great form as well so those are positives. I think we were right there,” he said.
One of the brightest things from Rajasthan’s bowling was Kuldeep Sen’s form, with the Tamil Nadu pacer picking up three wickets in his first two overs before losing the plot in the end, where Rajasthan conceded 37 runs in the last two overs.
“Kuldeep Sen coming back bowled three brilliant overs. We just lost it towards the backend. We probably didn't use the pitch as well as we should have. But that's the way the game goes. I thought they played really well, stayed in the game and took advantage of the mistakes we made,” he added.
Rajasthan might be slightly concerned about Ravichandran Ashwin’s form, with the spinner not being able to kick-start his bowling form this year. After the first clash, the off-spinner hasn’t picked up a single wicket in the competition, with figures of 0/30, 0/27, 0/28 and 0/40.
"Ash is one of the greatest spinners to have played the game. You can't have great days all the time. Once in a while you have a bad day. We learn, we move on. Ash is a fierce competitor. I'm sure he will come back,” he said on Ashwin.
