Former Indian all-rounder Madan Lal isn’t impressed by Rajasthan Royals’ batter Riyan Parag’s performances. Parag has been given ample opportunities by the franchise but the youngster has failed to grab them with both hands.
The youngster scored 183 runs in 14 innings in Tata IPL 2022 at an average of 16.64 and a strike rate of 138.63.
Parag scored one fifty in the tournament but failed to add the finishing touches in a lot of matches. The right-hander could only manage run-a-ball 15 in the final against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Parag has mustered only 522 runs in 47 IPL matches at a sub-par average of 16.84 and a strike rate of 124.88. Ergo, he has failed to come up with consistent performances in the IPL.
“Riyan Parag has played all matches but hasn’t given a single performance. When you talk of him… he is not that big a player who can change the game. Until now, all the IPLs that have taken player, and all the players who have taken part, they all have shown improvement and stepped up. But this player (Parag) hasn’t shown any progress given the number of chances he has got. The slot at which he plays is very important in T20 cricket. Because that is where you can accelerate and score runs. Now if you can’t score runs from there, your difficulties will only increase,” Lal said on Sports Tak.
Parag has been inconsistent in his IPL career and he will need to turn the tables in the next season. The youngster bats at a difficult position in the batting order, where has to hit the ground running.
On the other hand, RR’s director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara said Parag has huge potential under his bag and they might groom him in the top order in the next season.
“I think Riyan Parag… he has got huge amount of potential, and we got to work him into higher batting number by the time we come in next season. I look forward to kind of grooming him to become a more of a kind of an early middle-order player rather than just a death-hitter. Because, I think he is so accomplished against spin as well as pace,” the Sri Lankan batting great noted.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals were able to come up with a collective effort to qualify for the finals of the tournament but could not go past Gujarat Titans.
