'Yashasvi Jaiswal can only be a minister...': Ex-India selector questions RR’s decision to name Riyan Parag captain

Rajasthan Royals (RR) will start their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on March 30 in Guwahati.

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Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal and his teammate Riyan Parag (R) talk to each other during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match (Getty)

Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal and his teammate Riyan Parag (R) talk to each other during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match (Getty)

Story Highlights:

RR will start their IPL 2026 campaign against CSK.

Riyan Parag will lead RR in IPL 2026.

IPL 2026 will start from March 28.

Former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth has raised questions over the decision to appoint Riyan Parag as captain of Rajasthan Royals for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

RR's performance in IPL 2025

Parag has been with the franchise since 2019 and even stepped in as captain in eight matches last season when Sanju Samson was unavailable. However, the team did not have a great season under his leadership, winning only two matches and finishing ninth in the table with just four wins in 14 games.

Kris Srikkanth on RR's decision to appoint Riyan Parag as their captain

Ahead of the new season, the Rajasthan Royals made some big changes. They traded their regular skipper, Samson to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. Even with big names in the squad, the franchise decided to hand the captaincy to Parag. Srikkanth did not hold back his thoughts on this decision.

ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya advised to hand over Mumbai Indians captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav ahead of IPL 2026

"Everyone knows how he became the captain. He is treated like the king there. So, Yashasvi Jaiswal can only be a minister. Parag didn't have a good season last year, but the year before last, he did brilliantly. Last year, he didn't do anything deadly" said Kris Srikkanth on his youtube

Riyan Parag's performance in IPL 2025

Despite the team’s overall struggles, Parag personally had a strong season. He finished IPL 2025 as Rajasthan’s second-highest run-scorer, scoring 393 runs at an average of nearly 33 and a strike rate of over 166.

ALSO READ: Fuming Mohsin Naqvi issues strict warning after another PSL star quits for IPL

RR's IPL 2026 schedule

Here’s the table in a clean format:

Rajasthan Royals Chennai Super Kings Guwahati 30/03/2026
Gujarat Titans Rajasthan Royals Ahmedabad 4/04/2026
Rajasthan Royals Mumbai Indians Guwahati 7/04/2026
Rajasthan Royals Royal Challengers Bengaluru Guwahati 10/04/2026

RR squad for IPL 2026

Riyan Parag(C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan-DRe Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Aman Rao Parela, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger.

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