Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Riyan Parag played a pivotal role in his team's third win of the season. The game was against three-times champions Mumbai Indians who are looking stronger than ever this season. Parag scored 43 off 29 balls to bring his team closer to the target of 162 runs, which they eventually won.

Parag looked calm in the chase and the reason his idol MS Dhoni, against whom he played recently. After the match, the youngster had a chat with Jaydev Unadkat and there he opened up about his favorite player Dhoni.

The 17-year-old had met Dhoni when he was a kid in Guwahati. He has posted the photo on his Instagram account along with his recent picture having the Chennai Super Kings skipper in the same frame. He captioned it as one of the biggest moments in his life. Talking about it, he said, “I was six or seven years old at the time that picture was taken."

Riyan played against him when RR clashed with CSK and said it was a dream come true moment to set the field for his idol. “I’ve been idolizing Dhoni since I was 6-7 years old and now bowling to him, setting the field against him, even batting while he was keeping behind, it’s just surreal.

“Watching the IPL for the last five-six years and now being a part of it, being a part of Rajasthan Royals and contributing to my team. It feels surreal. I feel grateful to Rajasthan for picking me and grateful to god.”

Parag not only impressed the fans but also his captain Steve Smith. He said the youngster is a quick learner.

“He is calm, cool and composed. In the previous matches, he had batted the same way. He works very hard and is a big and strong young kid. He came out and played with that freedom, saw the ball and hit the ball. He did not worry about anything and just played the game.”