Madan Lal, a former World Cup-winning all-rounder, slammed Riyan Parag for his weak performance for Rajasthan Royals in the recently ended IPL 2022.
The former cricketer said, “Riyan Parag has played all matches but hasn’t given a single performance. When you talk of him… he is not that big a player who can change the game. Until now, all the IPLs that have taken player, and all the players who have taken part, they all have shown improvement and stepped up. But this player (Parag) hasn’t shown any progress given the number of chances he has got.”
Lal also commented on Parag’s batting position for the Rajasthan Royals, saying that if he fails to score from there, his trouble will only worsen.
He added, “The slot at which he plays is very important in T20 cricket. Because that is where you can accelerate and score runs. Now if you can’t score runs from there, your difficulties will only increase.”
Parag played in all 17 matches for the Rajasthan Royals this season, although he only scored 183 runs at an average of 16.64 for the team. The all-rounder only reached the 50-run mark against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In 2019, the Assam cricketer made his IPL debut, but he has yet to score 200 runs in a single edition.
Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara, Rajasthan Royals coach and managing director, has backed the 20-year-old.
Sangakara recognised the criticism directed at Parag and stated that when he returns for the next season, he will ensure that he is properly groomed.
“I think Riyan Parag, he has got huge amount of potential, and we got to work him into higher batting number by the time we come in next season. I look forward to kind of grooming him to become a more of a kind of an early middle-order player rather than just a death-hitter. Because, I think he is so accomplished against spin as well as pace,” said Sangakara after the IPL 2022 final.
