Manjrekar labelled the decision as lacking cricketing logic.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) are currently placed fourth in the IPL 2026 team standings with 12 points, having secured six wins from their 10 matches.
Despite their impressive performance, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned the franchise management for appointing Riyan Parag as captain.
Manjrekar described Parag's elevation as a "huge reward" that doesn't make sense given his past performances and claimed he hasn't worked hard enough to be a consistent performer. It took the Royals skipper 10 innings to hit his first half-century this season.
To make matter worse, Parag recently found himself embroiled in a controversy as he was caught vaping inside the dressing room. His action added to the scrutiny and the youngster was fined 25 per cent of his match fees.
“He is not one of your typical Indian players. He's fit and just the way he walks around and everything struts around. But I would say, after the kind of performances I've seen over the years. It is something that I find a little strange that the Rajasthan Royals have backed him so much,” Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.
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.
“I mean, Sanju Samson captained them for a few years, and then he was removed, and Riyan Parag took over. I don't know what happened there. But I don't think from a cricketing point of view, it makes any sense at all. It's a bit harsh to say this, but he's just got too much as a reward. Having not really worked hard for those rewards. So it's a very interesting case pertaining to the Rajasthan Royals,” Manjrekar added.
Despite the criticism, Sanjay Manjrekar noted that Riyan Parag’s immense self-confidence is his biggest strength.
“What catches the eye about Riyan Parag is his unbelievable self-confidence. Even when he was not delivering, if you saw him in the field, the kind of stuff that he did. It was just almost arrogance for somebody who was struggling to, you know, fit in or deliver. So he tells me about someone who has this confidence, and it seems genuine. It doesn't seem to be a put-on,” Manjrekar stated.
“So when I see his overall career as well. You would seem he would have played numerous innings of 14 or 15 runs, where he would come in and hit a couple of cracking shots, and you would be blown away. And then the next body's playing the same shot and getting out. That is his MO. That is how Riyan Parag generally plays: sensational shots, but I think somewhere the overconfidence, or whatever, just gets him to keep trying to play those shots. And because he mishits so many and gets out, he's obviously not focusing on every attacking shot he plays. So he's an interesting character. That is the captain, after all; that is something that I've never understood with the Rajasthan Royals,” he remarked.
Riyan Parag has scored 207 runs in the IPL 2026 season so far, averaging 23 while striking at 143.75. As far as his overall IPL career is concerned, Parag has 1773 runs from 94 matches and 82 innings at an average of 25.69 and a strike rate of 142.06, including 8 half-centuries.