Riyan Parag is an integral part of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) franchise. Royals have backed the young batting all-rounder as they roped his services for Rs 3.80 crore after a bidding war with Gujarat Titans (GT) at Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auctions. Parag did not have an outstanding IPL 2022 with the bat but he made headlines for his actions on the field. One of those moments was when he stared at Ashwin for not taking a single after the veteran missed the ball in the final over. The 20-year-old recently explained what went through his head and that Ashwin apologised to him later.
“'It would've been fine if Ashwin was batting with tailender. He should run when I'm batting. I was shocked. I just stared at him once and walked back. Later, Ashwin came to me and said sorry because he was thinking something at that time and didn’t run. But you all will just create anything like Riyan Parag gives 'death stare' to Ravichandran Ashwin," he said during a gaming stream on Rooter.
Royals ended up losing the qualifier despite posting 188 for six wickets in the first innings. Parag got run out as he had run halfway down the pitch to sneak a single. On the last ball, Ashwin got a couple of runs.
In the same stream, Parag also opened up about his heated exchange with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowler Harshal Patel and how Mohammed Siraj instigated the fight instead of dousing the flames. The youngster explained that his gesture was in reply to Patel’s send-off in the previous season. He did the same after hitting him for boundaries in the league match. He also recalled Siraj’s works as he asked him to behave like a kid in a rude manner.
The Assamese batter was one of the most athletic fielders in the Royals side and was normally seen patrolling the boundaries after fielding restrictions were lifted. He managed to score 183 runs from 17 games at an unimpressive average of 16.64 despite batting down the order. He scored just one half-century in the season.
