Indian and Rajasthan Royals cricketer Riyan Parag has finally broken his silence regarding the extremely viral screenshot from his live stream that exposed his YouTube search history. In an interview with Abu Dhabi based radio channel, City1016 Radio, Parag recounted how he inadvertently revealed his searches during a stream following the IPL 2024, leading to a wave of social media reactions.
"I finished the IPL, we were in Chennai, finished the match, got on a Discord call with my streaming team, and it got publicised now, but it happened before the IPL. One of the people in my Discord team tried to set me up before the IPL, but that got taken down very quickly. But then after the IPL, the hype was there, and I had a good season. I came and opened my stream, I didn't have Spotify or Apple Music. Everything was deleted," Parag explained.
"So I went on YouTube to put on music, and I searched for music. But I didn't know what was happening, but once I did the stream ended, I was like Oh s**t! This happened. It just got blown out of proportion. I didn't think it was good enough a reason for me to go out publicly and clarify everything and no one would understand," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"So I went on YouTube to put on music, and I searched for music. But I didn't know what was happening, but once I did the stream ended, I was like Oh s**t! This happened. It just got blown out of proportion. I didn't think it was good enough a reason for me to go out publicly and clarify everything and no one would understand," he added.
{{/usCountry}}The controversy erupted when eagle-eyed fans spotted explicit searches related to Bollywood acts Ananya Panday and Sara Ali Khan in the leaked screenshot. The incident led to widespread online criticism and mockery, but Parag chose not to engage with the backlash, instead focusing on his cricketing career.
Beyond the social media chatter, Parag has been making significant strides on the field. Born to former first-class cricketer Parag Das and national record-holding swimmer Mithoo Barooah, he became the first cricketer from Assam—and the entire northeast—to earn an India cap in July 2024.