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.
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"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.
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RR's IPL 2026 schedule
Here’s the table in a clean format:
| Home Team | Away Team | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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.