In a recent revelation, India's star all-rounder Riyan Parag shed light on the challenges he faced during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season with the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Parag disclosed that he was managing a lot of stress throughout the tournament, primarily due to a lingering shoulder injury.
Riyan Parag on stressful IPL 2025 campaign
Despite his injury, Parag was thrust into a leadership role as the stand-in captain for several matches when the regular skipper, Sanju Samson, was sidelined with his own injury issues. The 2025 season proved to be a difficult one for the Rajasthan Royals, who finished in ninth place. However, Parag's individual performance was a bright spot for the team, as he scored 393 runs at an impressive average of 32.75 and a striking strike rate of 166.52.
Following the IPL, Parag made his return to competitive cricket in the ongoing Duleep Trophy. He took on a leadership role, captaining the East Zone team against the North Zone in the absence of Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was sidelined with a fever. This return to the field marks another step in his recovery journey.
Last year, Parag underwent shoulder surgery after playing for the Indian T20I team in October 2024. He made his comeback to the sport in January for the Ranji Trophy before playing in the IPL 2025. Speaking after the Duleep Trophy match against North Zone, Parag revealed that he just wanted to have fun on the field. It was during this conversation that he also made the revelation about his challenging IPL 2025 campaign, which he played through while managing a significant shoulder injury.
"It was good. I mean, that was the main goal when I came here to play the game. Performances, I didn't really focus on that much. I just wanted to have some fun," he said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
"I haven't played competitive cricket in a long time. Since the IPL, I haven't really played. [In the] IPL also, I was managing a lot of stress and stuff like that. But it was nice, was a good outing. Not in a good way with the amount of overs we fielded. But then still, rolled my arm for a few overs, batted for a while. Could have converted it for a bigger score, but then I'm happy. The shoulder feels much better now," he added.
Parag's comments came right after Rahul Dravid stepped down as RR coach on August 30.
Talking about the Duleep Trophy match between East Zone and North Zone, it concluded in a draw. However, North Zone advanced to the semi-finals based on securing a crucial first-innings lead. East Zone captain Parag acknowledged the strong performance of his opponents. Despite his own contribution of 39 runs and figures of 1 for 78, he admitted that his team could have performed better. He went on to elaborate on his team's shortcomings.
"They played better cricket, I got to give credit to that. I feel we could have done better in the first innings while bowling but then we should have got at least close to like 350 and then try to restrict it. But once we did not do that, they had the lead of around 200 runs. Then, just the batters batted really well and just took the game away from us and the last day was just formality, I think, for them to get their milestones," he concluded.