Not many had heard of Riyan Parag before this year's IPL.
But after his match-turning innings against the Kolkata Knight Riders, the 17-year-old Rajasthan Royals all-rounder from Assam will surely garner a lot of interest around the country.
Playing only his fourth IPL game, Parag showed great resolve and maturity to script Rajasthan's majestic turnaround at the Eden Gardens.
Parag had seen his illustrious team-mates Steve Smith, Ben Stokes and Stuart Binny throw their wickets away, attempting some reckless shots to leaving the visitors reeling on 123/6 in the 16th over, but the youngster was not ready to throw in the towel.
Shreyas Gopal hit a quickfire 18, including three fours in a row against Nitish Rana in the 15th over.
Following Gopal's dismissal, Parag and Jofra Archer played with great purpose as the duo set about getting the Rajasthan innings back on track with some intelligent strokeplay.
Archer slammed Sunil Narine for a straight six and Parag glanced the fourth ball fine for a four to get 15 from the spinner's final over, the 17th of the innings.
Despite being hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Andre Russell, young Parag was brave enough to play the pull shot against pacer Prasidh Krishna, for a six over square leg.
Courtesy of Parag, the equation took a big tumble as it came down from 46 needed from 4 overs to 18 from two overs.
Parag then puts Royals firmly in control as he slammed Russell for a six over long-on, but then perished in unfortunate circumstances. He was dismissed hit wicket as he hit the stumps with the bat after he missed a pull shot.
He was in tears as he walked back in disbelief after a cracking innings of 47 from 31 balls, but soon enough the smiles were back.
When he was dismissed Royals needed 9 from 7 balls and Archer duly finished off the game in the final over. He sealed the match and his final appearance in IPL-12 with a wonderful 6 over the covers as the visitors won by 3 wickets with 4 balls to spare.
