Riyan Parag made headlines with his performance in the recently concluded Deodhar Trophy 2023 both with bat and ball. Parag played a vital role in East Zone making it to Deodhar Trophy final. The Guwahati-born all-rounder scored 354 runs and took 11 wickets in the domestic One-Day tournament.
While Parag is being lauded for his all-round show, a few months earlier he was criticised for his unimpressive run in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 for Rajasthan Royals. The 21-year-old has now revealed how former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli’s advice helped him.
“Mai puri baat nahi bata paunga (I cannot tell you the exact conversation). He told me ‘something that has worked for half a year cannot be wrong after a few failures. What happens in the IPL is that the tournament goes on so fast that after failing in two games, you start to question yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and I have made tons of them. Two-three games don’t go your way and you feel (the need) to change your process and work ethic,” Parag told Indian Express.
“It was him telling me that ‘take the reality check and accept that this is a bad phase but it doesn’t mean that you need to change the process that has been working for you’,” he added.
In a recent interview, Parag also said that he considers Kohli as his idol and no one else. He even has Kohli’s photo set as his WhatsApp profile picture.
In IPL 2023, he went through a rough patch and scored just 78 runs in seven games. He was picked for Rs 3.8 crore by the Royals in IPL mega auction after a bidding war with Gujarat Titans (GT).
Parag batted for East Zone in the lower-middle order. He rescued them from collapses and scored runs at a brisk rate. Even in the final, he scored 95 against South Zone in the unsuccessful run chase. The youngster wants to play as a finisher in the IPL as well.
“Finishing is a tough job. You have to master it. I wanted to do better last IPL, but then it’s how it is. I think the team understands that, I think everyone who knows the game understands that. But the fans won’t notice the technicalities. Going down at No 6 and No 7, there is the challenge to hit it out of the park from ball one. It’s a thankless job,” he said.
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