Riyan Parag impressed one and all with his stunning exploits in the 2023 edition of the Deodhar Trophy.
While his team East Zone lost to South Zone in the final, Parag won the Player of the Tournament award. He finished the tournament as the highest run-getter, the player with the most sixes, and the third-highest wicket-taker.
In five innings, Parag amassed 354 runs with two hundreds and also a knock of 95 in the summit clash. He also picked up 11 wickets in the tournament, including two four-wicket hauls.
The remarkable campaign happened almost two months after his poor show in the IPL 2023 season for Rajasthan Royals. In IPL 2023, he scored 78 runs from seven matches at an average of 13 and was dropped from the RR playing XI as well.
Amid the terrible IPL campaign, Parag was also seen having a chat with his idol Virat Kohli after one of the games between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In an interaction with The Indian Express after his Deodhar Trophy heroics, Riyan Parag opened up on the advice from Kohli that sparked the massive turnaround.
“Mai puri baat nahi bata paunga (I cannot tell you the exact conversation). He told me 'something that has worked for half a year cannot be wrong after a few failures. What happens in the IPL is that the tournament goes on so fast that after failing in two games, you start to question yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and I have made tons of them. Two-three games don’t go your way and you feel (the need) to change your process and work ethic,” Parag said.
“It was him telling me that ‘take the reality check and accept that this is a bad phase but it doesn’t mean that you need to change the process that has been working for you’,” he added.
Riyan Parag was touted as one of the emerging stars when he featured in India’s triumphant U-19 World Cup campaign back in 2018. A year later, the youngster was roped in by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for INR 10 lakh.
From the highs of U-19 World Cup win and some memorable outings in IPL to the lows of IPL 2022 and 2023 seasons, Parag has seen both sides of his professional career so far.
While his poor numbers often bring him under the scanner, Parag also gets trolled for his on-field behaviour and social media activities at times.
“People have a problem with me chewing gum. If my collar is up that’s a problem. I celebrate after taking a catch that’s a problem. They have a problem with me gaming and playing golf in my off time,” he said.
“I have an idea why people hate me. There is a rulebook about how you should play cricket. The T-shirt should be tucked in, the collar should be down, give respect to everyone, don’t sledge anyone, and I am completely the opposite.”
