Parag has managed 81 runs in seven innings at an average of 13.50 and a strike rate of 117.39.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) are currently placed third in the IPL 2026 points table with 10 points, having secured five wins from their seven matches.
Despite their dominance, skipper Riyan Parag has come under severe scrutiny for his poor returns with the bat. He has managed 81 runs in seven innings at an average of 13.50 and a strike rate of 117.39, with his highest score being 20 against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
However, ahead of the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday (April 25), RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara threw his weight behind struggling Parag.
Sangakkara said he was not concerned because Parag was "hitting the ball well" in practice and during matches, suggesting that it was only a matter of time before he regained his scoring form.
“I think he’s batting really well. When you’re batting well, sometimes you don’t always score. I would have been concerned if he wasn’t hitting the ball well. I think he’s hitting it really well. He just needs to stitch together a few more runs so that he sets himself a good platform to attack in the end,” Sangakkara told reporters during the pre-match presser.
“As a player, as a batter, the franchise backs him 100 per cent. And what’s really exciting for me is to see how he has just embraced the captaincy and the leadership. And you can see even in the last game how good a captain he was. So, I think he will learn more and more about pressure, and he will get better," he added.
Riyan Parag was handed RR’s captaincy following a high-profile trade that saw long-standing captain Sanju Samson move to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
While the 24-year-old served as a stand-in captain for eight matches during the 2025 edition when Samson was sidelined due to injury, this marks his first official stint as RR’s full-time skipper.
Sangakkara explained the decision to name Parag as captain, citing his steep learning curve and the aura he carries.
“More than anyone else’s influence, why we chose Riyan as captain is that his learning curve has been steep. He has learned a lot from others, but more importantly, from himself. I’ve never seen a young player under so much pressure from the start of his career in RR. Riyan was, a lot of the time, front and centre in a lot of our social media. He was always put out there," Sangakkara, who is also serving RR as Director of Cricket, said.
“Because he was an exciting young cricketer and had this aura about him. A pretty good-looking guy as well. But that also brings with it a lot of pressure. And sometimes it’s unfair to have such a young guy be under that pressure. I think he has learned a lot from those experiences," he remarked.