The ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, India's premier 50-over tournament in the domestic circuit, has seen some splendid performances so far. Narayan Jagadeesan has been ruling the batting charts, having scored five hundreds so far in the competition. Among the bowlers it is speedster Kuldeep Sen, who has been the most successful. The pacer has so far scalped 17 wickets from six outings and is the leading wicket-taker at the moment.
Another player who is taking significant strides in the competition is Assam's Riyan Parag. The all-rounder has chipped in with impressive performance as Assam qualified for the quarterfinals after a 25-run victory over Delhi on Wednesday.
Parag has so far notched two tons, and one half-century and has been equally effective with the ball. His tons came against Rajasthan and Sikkim, while he went to scalp two wickets in the three overs versus Meghalaya.
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In a recent interaction with Sportskeeda, the all-rounder opened about his ambitions to play for India.
“I think I have had a good Syed Mushtaq Ali and I am having a decent Vijay Hazare - with both bat and ball. If we (Assam) can win the quarterfinals, make the semis and final, some of the boys can get India A call-ups or anything like that. Because we never qualified, our names didn’t come up. So this time, maybe, I am hoping for an India A call-up, and the India one in the near future,” said Parag.
{{/usCountry}}“I think I have had a good Syed Mushtaq Ali and I am having a decent Vijay Hazare - with both bat and ball. If we (Assam) can win the quarterfinals, make the semis and final, some of the boys can get India A call-ups or anything like that. Because we never qualified, our names didn’t come up. So this time, maybe, I am hoping for an India A call-up, and the India one in the near future,” said Parag.
{{/usCountry}}Parag's comments come at a time when Team India are searching for an all-rounder, who can bat late and start exploding straightaway. He has been performing a similar role for Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals for the past few years but is yet to make a significant impact.
Parag has so far featured in 47 IPL matches, in which he has amassed 522 runs at a strike-rate of 124.88. With the ball he has so far scalped four wickets.