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IPL’s emerging stars: Riyan Parag’s coming of age season
Rajasthan Royals’ Parag has maximised his promotion to No.4, making this his best IPL season
Kolkata: Few uncapped batters time the ball as well as Riyan Parag, a U-19 World Cup winner in 2018, does. He doesn’t care for suspicion and doesn’t care for what everyone thinks of him. While that can count as impudence at some level, it’s actually a form of detachment that helps him stay relevant. Yet, everything becomes inconsequential when you’ve spent the past few seasons as a perpetual middle-order firefighter rather than an enforcer.
Not anymore. If this IPL has been a coming-of-age season for Parag (22), it’s because he has cut out the fluff while Rajasthan Royals provided clarity with a position reserved for him — No.4.
Parag made his debut in 2019, but only now is he displaying his true potential in what has been his best season so far, scoring 531 runs in 12 innings at an average of 59 — more than triple his average of 17.11 till 2023 — and a strike rate of 152.58, significantly higher than his career figure of 121.5 till last season. Also mindboggling is an aggregate of 31 sixes so far, not only more than his last five seasons put together but also the best for a No.4 batter this season.
“The promotion to No.4 has really suited him,” said Royals assistant coach Shane Bond in a post-match press conference earlier this week. “He has had a number of years batting at positions tough down the order. People forget how young he is, it takes some time when you are young. But you saw how well he played in domestic cricket this season, particularly in T20s, and he has just rolled on this season for us.”
This is what Parag’s last domestic season looked like. He was the highest scorer in the Deodhar Trophy, hit the most sixes (23, ten more than the next batter on the list) and finished joint-third highest wicket-taker. It preceded a world record seven consecutive fifties — all at No.4 — in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, almost leading Assam into the final of the T20 tournament. Those 510 runs at an average of 85 and a strike rate of 182.79 allowed for a seamless transition, making it one of the rare instances where domestic cricket and a franchise worked in tandem for the sake of an individual.
Achieving this high wasn’t easy. Keeping his father Parag Das (a former Assam cricketer) and Zubin Bharucha (director of high performance at Rajasthan Royals) in the loop, Parag had set the wheels in motion by viewing hours of footage, trying to perfect his game. “I just had to figure out what mattered to me, whose opinions mattered to me, and I figured that out eventually,” said Parag at a press conference here last month. “Cricketing-wise, I think playing at No.4 is, again, something which I’m used to doing in domestic cricket in different situations, more common situations, actually. But yeah, it’s been a mix of both, emotionally and skill-wise.”
Parag has put that experience to good use in this IPL. An unbeaten 45-ball 84 that dismantled Delhi Capitals at Jaipur set the ball rolling. Following it with another unbeaten fifty in a tricky chase against Mumbai Indians after Royals had lost their top three in quick succession underscored Parag’s resolve to finish games on his own. It wasn’t until he had slammed a 14-ball 34 when the Royals were chasing a record 223 against Kolkata Knight Riders did his efficacy came to the fore. Be it pacing chases or high-octane batting, Parag has impressed with an overriding focus to finish the job in this IPL. So much so that it made him a T20 World Cup probable.
He didn’t make it, but Parag has the maturity to put a positive spin on his omission. “If you told me last year I’d be in this position (in T20 World Cup reckoning), I would not have believed you,” Parag had said before that epic chase against KKR. “So, I’m just really glad to be doing what I am doing, and I just want to continue that. I want to take it one game at a time, and focus on how I can win more matches for the team because that’s more important.”
It may still be a long way from the top, but Parag is here for the long haul.
