After a tough few last seasons in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Riyan Parag showed his calibre and talent to bat with freedom in the recently finished IPL 2024. It took him immense hard work and self-belief to turn around critics into praises, as the middle-order batter looks at the future for more success.
One of the season for Rajasthan Royals’ string middle order throughout the 17th season of the tournament was Riyan Parag batted with responsibility, coming at number 4. In most of his knocks, it was good to see him nailing both the pacers and spinners left, right and centre of the ground.
The Assam-born finished the IPL 2024, being the third-highest run-scorer with 573 runs in 14 innings at an average of 52.09, and a strike rate of close to 150, shouldering on four half-centuries. In the whole competition, Riyan Parag smashed 40 boundaries and 33 sixes, to show how good a power-hitter he could be.
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‘What matters is what you think about yourself…’ – Riyan Parag
The Royals have kept faith on Parag when the U-19 World Cup winner of the 2018 edition couldn’t even cross the 200-run mark in the last season. The best thing happened for him was getting promoted at the number four position.
The youngster was so confident of getting his chance in the Indian team, using his self-belief to make a statement.
‘At some point, you’ll have to take me, right? So that is my belief, I’m going to play for India. I don’t really care when. When I was not scoring runs – I said this in an interview as well that I am going to play for India,” Riyan Parag said during a recent interview with PTI.
Having the trust is the biggest thing for anyone to earn success, and that’s not being arrogant, as Riyan Parag aims to play for India regardless of anything.
‘That is me believing in myself. That is not me being arrogant. That is what my plan was with my dad, when I started playing cricket when I was like 10-years-old. We were going to play for India regardless of anything,” RR batter remarked in the same interview.
India are scheduled to take on Zimbabwe in five T20I game, besides facing Sri Lanka in three ODIs and 3 T20Is, and youngsters liker Parag and Abhishek Sharma are aiming those game to get the India cap.
‘Whether it’s the next tour, whether it’s a tour in six months, whether it’s a tour in one year. I don’t really put my thought behind when I should play. That is the selector’s job, that is other people’s job,” Assam-born hoped.
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The only regret for Parag would be how his form dipped for the Royals towards the end of the IPL 2024, as he couldn’t help the side to reach to the final of the competition, as they lost the second qualifier against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
‘The biggest thing that I’ve taken away from the last season is that believing in yourself actually works out, because a lot of people say a lot of different things, whether it’s negative, whether it’s positive. But at the end of the day, what matters is what you think about yourself and that is what I’ve been for,” 22-year-old. Riyan Parag concluded.
India will play Zimbabwe in a five-match T20I series, starting from July 06, as all the games will be played at the Harare Sports Club , in Harare.