Rajasthan Royals batter Riyan Parag's splendid match-winning knock in the IPL 2024 match against Delhi Capitals on Thursday, March 29, 2024, came in for a lot of praise.
22-year-old batter Parag slammed a blistering career-best 84 not out off 45 balls to set up a 12 run win for the Royals.
He finished the Royals innings in style, smashing pacer Anrich Nortje for two sixes and three fours to get 25 runs in the final over despite taking painkillers to recover in time for the match.
The promotion to No. 4 has proved to be a turning point for Parag, who had smashed 43 from 29 balls in the Royals' opening match against the Lucknow Super Giants.
Despite his talent, Parag had struggled to live up to the expectations and had underwhelming numbers to show since joining the Royals in 2019.
His best season was in IPL 2022 when he stroked 183 runs in 17 matches with one fifty, while he scored 160 runs in his debut season in 2019.
Last year, he struggled for consistency as he managed just 78 runs in seven matches with a best of 20 and copped a lot of criticism from the fans.
But Parag worked hard on his big-hitting skills in the off-season which is finally seeing him reap rich rewards. He scored loads of runs in the white ball domestic tournaments including the Deodhar Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Parag smashed 354 runs in five matches, with two centuries and a fifty, at a strike rate of 136 with 20 sixes for East Zone in the Deodhar Trophy zonal one-day tournament in July-August.
He was unstoppable in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Assam, with 510 runs in 10 games at a strike rate of 182, including seven fifties with a tournament high of 40 sixes.
Son of former Assam state cricketer Parag Das and national record holder swimmer Mithu Baruah, he was part of India's Under-19 World Cup-winning squad in 2018.
Suryakumar Yadav, who is recovering at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in the past few weeks, was blown away by Parag's discipline and focus during his stint at the NCA.
'Met a guy at NCA few weeks ago. He came with a slight niggle. Completely focused on his recovery and with great discipline working on his skills. And I was not wrong to tell that to one of the coaches there "He is a changed guy." RIYAN PARAG 2.0 Watch out,' Suryakumar declared on X.
Last 3 days I was in bed, I was on painkillers: Parag
DC Vs RR: Who Played The Best Knock?
DC Vs RR: Who Bowled The Best Spell?
DC Vs RR: Who Took The Best Catch?
How Royals pacer Avesh choked Delhi at the end!