JAIPUR: Young in-form batter Riyan Parag continued to make an impact for the Rajasthan Royals via hammering a scintillating 48-ball 76 to take the team to 196/3. Though it ended up in vain, Kumar Sangakkara, RR’s director of cricket, praised Riyan for his run-making spree, but felt it's all about him concentrating on the ongoing season.
Parag has wowed everyone with his ball-striking and jaw-dropping shots, something which happened in Wednesday's match. He hit three fours and five sixes in his third fifty of the season coming at a strike-rate of 158.33. Parag’s tally in IPL 2024 now stands at 251 runs in five matches, which is only second behind leading run-getter Virat Kohli.
"I don't know in that sense, it's way beyond me (if Riyan will be included in India’s squad for T20 World Cup). I think his potential is there for everyone to see. I think for Riyan it's really about concentrating for Rajasthan and this season. And whatever happens, will happen after that.
"One should never get too ahead of looking at things too far in the future and as long as he keeps his head down, he is working really hard, he is batting really well, he is very organised, he has worked hard off season, he just needs to keep doing those good things and if he does that, good things will happen, " said Sangakkara in post-match press conference.’
He also credited GT for the way they came back at the end of the chase to pull off a heist and counted the positive he saw from an RR perspective. "First of all we batted really well. It was a tough period to start with. I thought the way Sanju (Samson) and Riyan rebuilt our innings, Hetty (Shimron Hetmyer) with his cameo was outstanding, (Yashasvi) Jaiswal looked in great form as well so those are positives.
"I think we were right there. Kuldeep Sen coming back bowled three brilliant overs. We just lost it towards the backend. We probably didn't use the pitch as well as we should have. But that's the way the game goes. I thought they played really well, stayed in the game and took advantage of the mistakes we made."
Sangakkara signed off by backing veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to come good after being hit for 40 runs in his four overs, with no scalps. "Ash is one of the greatest spinners to have played the game. You can't have great days all the time. Once in a while you have a bad day. We learn, we move on."
"Ash is a fierce competitor. I'm sure he will come back. I thought the way we bowled initially we held our nerve, the spinners Maharaj coming in, Kuldeep Sen coming in, lot of positives to look at but also a lot of things to learn."
Despite the defeat to GT, RR are still top-ranked side on the points table and will now head to Mullanpur to play Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Saturday evening.