Former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary questioned Riyan Parag’s shot selection after Rajasthan Royals suffered a four-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday. Parag, who hasn’t been in the best of form, was dismissed after scoring 12 runs off 14 balls.

The RR skipper played across the line against Varun Chakravarthy but was clean-bowled. The right-hander from Assam has managed 61 runs in six matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 12.20 and a strike rate of 122. Thus, he has failed to lead from the front this season.

RR were 117-3 when Parag attempted a huge heave on the leg side and Tiwary reckons a partnership was the need of the hour at that stage.

“I was a little disappointed with Riyan Parag’s shot selection, because he could not read it at all. It was a situation where RR needed a partnership, but he must be disappointed for sure, because the kind of ability and capability he has, he did not play like that,” Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, Varun Chakravarthy bounced back to form, returning with impressive figures of 3-14 in his four overs. Furthermore, Sunil Narine bagged 2-26 in his four overs and Tiwary praised the spin duo for their match-winning performance. KKR were able to restrict RR to 155-9 and the spin pair played a key role as they had combined figures of 5-40 in eight overs.

“It felt good to see KKR bowl like this. I had a feeling that spinners will come in and play their role and both of them did. The surface helped them today, it was a bit dry because it was an afternoon game, so the ball was spinning. The ball coming in was also turning, and when the ball turns, these two become lethal,” Tiwary added.

KKR will next take on LSG at Lucknow on Sunday.