Indian Premier League’s topper Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals is all to face Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians at the Jaipur’s Sawai Mansing Stadium on 22 April.
On of the main players that led Royals win 7 of the eight matches played in the ongoing IPL tournament is sensational Riyan Parag, who scored 318 runs at an average of 63.60 and posses a strike rate of 161.42. He is also on the third spot of the IPL orange cap list, just behind Virat Kohli and Travis head.
Playing in his fourth IPL season, the 22-year-old from Assam said that the journey has not been smooth and he went through a lot of ups and downs.
The young sensation even took help from Virat Kohli to get out of his bad phase.
Parag told JioCinema, as quoted by PTI, “In my second year, I was having a bad phase in the IPL. I was discussing with him on how to get out of that phase and how he used to handle similar situations, so I can learn from his experience as well.”
“He gave me a good 10-15 minutes of his time and shared a few things with me, I think that really helped me,” he added.
Parag also says that apart from Kohli he has learnt a lot from another cricket legend Rahul Dravid, who was associated with the RR franchise earlier.
“I learnt a lot. Cricket-wise, we know he’s one of the best in the business, one of the greatest cricketers of our time.” he said.
“Outside cricket, how we should conduct ourselves, get involved with the crowd, social media, and how to generally present ourselves outside of cricket, is something I learnt a lot about, from him,” he added.
Parag opened up on his maiden IPL match, when he was few feet from legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“It was a surreal feeling. I don’t really remember how I was exactly feeling but I was nervous for sure. Playing against CSK, going in to bat, with Dhoni behind the wicket, was a surreal moment for sure, I’ll never forget that. I was more excited than nervous and enjoyed every bit of it.”
Nowadays, Parag is being mentored by RR’s director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara, and he considers himself lucky.
“He’s a wonderful coach. He lets players do everything. I know he’s got his tactics behind all the noise, but he lets his players express themselves.”
With agency inputs.
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Published: 22 Apr 2024, 07:25 PM IST