Riyan Parag has always been backed by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) team management and their Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara. Despite receiving a lot of criticism, Rajasthan kept investing in him, gave him a longer rope and Parag has finally paid off rich dividends to his backing.
The 22-year-old cricketer has been in sublime touch in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He has been playing some stupendous knocks and has been smashing the ball out of the park, with utter disdain.
Parag is in the contention for the Orange Cap, which is an award given to the leading run-getter in the IPL. He has amassed 318 runs and has a highest score of 84*, which he scored against Delhi Capitals (DC).
Now the million-dollar question is whether he will be selected in the Indian side for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which will be held in USA and West Indies.
India needs finishers like Riyan Parag who can go all guns blazing from ball 1. T20 cricket is a very fast and dynamic format and need quick churners of runs. Parag has never wasted deliveries and because of his strong technique which includes his good head-position and steely wrists, Parag can deliver the goods with perfection.
Riyan Parag also recently had a fantastic domestic performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 and had smashed 6 fifties on the trot. The 22-year-old cricketer of Assam had amassed 510 runs in the tournament and was the highest run-getter of this tournament.
But since India already has so many people on the pipeline, including Riyan Parag in the playing XI might be impossible for the 2007 T20 World Cup Champions. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rinku Singh and Shubman Gill are ahead of Parag in the top-order and middle-order.
India had lifted the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 when they digressed from their conventional strategies. They fielded a young team without a monkey on their back and it eventually led them to win the tournament.
If Rohit Sharma and co. need to break India’s trophy-drought at the ICC tournaments, then they need to shift their approach towards getting the youngsters into the team and straightaway putting them into big tournaments such as the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Also read: IPL 2024: 3 Reasons Why Heinrich Klaasen Can Finish As The Leading Run-Getter
