Riyan Parag’s poor form puts RR in a fix

Rajasthan Royals have invested in top stars like Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, but at the same time, the 2008 IPL title winners have also put their faith in young talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, 21, Devdutt Padikkal, 22, and Riyan Parag, 21.

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While Yashasvi has emerged as a reliable player, complementing Jos Buttler at the top and scoring runs consistently at a healthy strike rate of 142.85 in IPL 2023, Padikkal and Parag haven’t got the ball rolling.

Top-order batter Padikkal joined RR in 2022 after scoring 884 runs across two seasons for Royal Challengers Bangalore. But with Buttler, Yashasvi and Sanju Samson in the squad and considering the demands of T20 cricket, the left-hander has been relegated to the No 4 batting slot at the Royals.

While he managed 376 runs last season in 17 games, it came at a strike rate of 122.88, lower than what he had in the previous two seasons (124.80 and 125.30). Of course, there’s not much of a difference, but a strike of lower than 130 from the opening slot still allows you to pull back things, but doesn’t really work the same way for a middle order batter in the fast-paced T20 game.

On Wednesday in the game against Lucknow Super Giants, Padikkal came in when RR needed 62 off 42 balls. The Karnataka batter added 26 off 21 but couldn’t take the team across the finishing line, getting out in the final over. Though it was a sluggish wicket, the team would have expected the talented batter to soak up the pressure and finish the job.

RR vs LSG: Turning points from the match

Another RR batter and the youngster who couldn’t execute his job against LSG was Riyan Parag. The finisher scored 15 off 12 balls at a strike rate of 125 and this added more pressure on Padikkal.

Despite having the time in the middle, Parag couldn’t make the most of the opportunity and failed to up the ante when required. In fact, in his first eight balls, he only collected four singles. The 37-run partnership off 26 balls between Padikkal and Parag is essentially where RR lost the match.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri was livid with Parag after the match.

“They lost Samson, they lost Buttler and Jaiswal but still they had enough, a lot of depth. I think that period of play when Riyan Parag came in and the way he played his first eight balls changed the course of the match. Padikkal, at the other end, lost his rhythm as well,” Shastri said on Star Sports

“Runs started coming in singles and there was a period of 28 balls that stage without a boundary. When you go through that much time without a boundary, you are asking for trouble”

RR bought Parag in 2019 and the Assam player has been with the Royals ever since. His best season came in IPL 2022. While he only scored 183 runs, these came at a strike rate of 138.64 from lower down the order. The Royals’ management has backed Parag for a long to be their finisher.

The issue is that the strike rate has come down to 112.50 this season, with just 54 runs coming in five matches.

Parag helped RR reach the final last year, but his lack of form could also hamper Rajasthan’s season this time around. However, there’s no guarantee in sport, it’s very well possible that the youngster will soon rediscover his form and help the team win games.

RR coach Kumar Sangakkara was asked about Parag’s form after the LSG match and while the Sri Lankan admitted that the right-hander is out of form, he added that the franchise backs its players.

“Yeah, in that situation he’s there to go out and hit as many sixes as he can. It’s a very clear plan that Riyan has because we had Dhruv [Jurel] to kind of take care of the pace but we just needed to hit 2-3 sixes in the middle overs. He has been batting well in the nets. We do back our players quite well, especially, when he comes in as an impact sub for us or DDP [Devdutt Padikkal] comes in as impact sub, looking at the local talent we have.

“Unfortunately, he hasn’t been in good form. We will assess that and address that at his training and see where we get to, over the next few games,” Sangakkara said.

Sangakkara’s quotes only indicate that RR are going to give Parag more chances to be their finisher instead of dropping him from the team. Only time will tell how big a tradeoff will that be, but it’s certain that RR now must take the call to either play him, drop him, or allow Dhruv Jurel to bat ahead of him who is striking at 177.14.

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