Assam's Riyan Parag expressed his gratitude towards the Rajasthan Royals for showing faith in his abilities after the franchise retained ahead of the IPL 2023 auction despite not delivering many significant performances over the years.
The 21-year-old has not enjoyed much success in the IPL for the past three seasons, but despite that, the RR retained Riyan ahead of the IPL 2023 auction, which will be held on December 23 in Kochi.
Riyan Parag told SportsKeeda: “I think it's very simple for me. The message is always clear: they believe in my abilities. 90 percent of the people don't see what's going on inside the team, how I am performing in practice matches, or what I am doing. Everyone just sees the end product, which has been a bit rough for me. So, everyone judges me on that.”
He continued, “But the whole Royal family knows what I am capable of and what I have done in practice or even shown glimpses of it in matches. So, the belief has always been there. They have backed me for four years. This is my fifth year now and I hope to repay them soon.”
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Parag had a decent IPL 2022, scoring 183 runs in 17 innings, but he could manage only 86 runs from 12 matches in the IPL 2020 and 93 runs from 11 games in the IPL 2019, and the youngster opened up on how he dealt with the low phase.
He said of the low phase, “2020 was a very low point in my career. And then, I talked a lot to myself and I figured out that only my opinion matters and no one else's does. Even if Kumar Sangakkara and Sanju Samson tell good things about me and if I don't believe in them, I think it doesn't really make any sense or doesn't have any impact on myself.
So, I think the outside noise is always there and will always be there. I do well and the same people are going to praise me and keep me as a king. So, it doesn't really matter. I know what I think of myself and I'll stick to that.”
Notably, Parag mostly batted at 6 or 7, and the youngster admitted that excelling at the position is difficult, saying that delivering match-winning performances while batting in the lower order is an art that only MS Dhoni has mastered.
The RR star further explained, “It's the tougher job in T20 cricket, to just come in and slog. Numbers six and seven are the hardest places to play in T20 cricket. Only some of the guys have mastered it. Not even some, I'll just say only MS Dhoni has mastered it and no one else has.”
He signed off by saying, “And I am doing it at such an early stage in my career. Not even master it, I am just getting close to knowing what it all feels like – I am just sorting my way through it. So, people can just talk whatever they want, but I know how hard a job it is and my team believes in me.”
