Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Riyan Parag had a forgettable season in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). The 21-year-old received harsh criticism from various former cricketers following his poor performance in the lucrative league. Notably, the all-rounder scored only 78 runs at a strike rate of 118.18 in seven games.
Parag has opened up on how he felt about the criticism he received from cricket analysts and former players. The all-rounder said he has no issues with the supporters criticising him since he understands their emotions. However, he took a dig at the experts, saying that they could have just texted him about his performance. Notably, the interview began with a video clip of commentators Harsha Bhogle and Joy Bhattacharjya raving about the young cricketers, implying that he was a problem for the Sanju Samson-led side.
"People pay their hard-earned money to come watch us perform, not play. So us not performing, them hating, I totally understand. But verified accounts, ex-cricketers, commentators, when they are posting about this on social media when they are taking out time to tweet about me, you can just text me. I would honestly just love that, because if anyone can just DM me and say ‘Hey, I know this is how you play cricket, but if you do this, you might have a better chance of performing'," Parag said in a video interview posted by Rajasthan Royals.
Watch the video:
Trolled and tested but tough as ever. 👊
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) July 5, 2023
This is Riyan Parag: Raw and real. 💗 pic.twitter.com/8ub5oDTNnv
Parag told how excited he was before the matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2023. Notably, he failed to get a spot in the XI in both those matches. The 21-year-old stated he was disappointed not to be selected since he was keen to play against Virat Kohli. "Virat I look up to him so much and sharing the field with him is obviously very big for me and beating them is just a joy for me."
from IPL Live Score | IPL News, IPL 2023 Updates, Squads & Results - CricTracker