The enigmatic Riyan Parag tides over trolls, injury, patchy form to justify RR's captaincy choice

Mullanpur: Often misunderstood and the troll material of social media, Riyan Parag has repaid the immense faith placed on him by Rajasthan Royals in his first full season as captain with a last minute play-off berth in the Indian Premier League.

The 24-year-old from Assam has had to deal with criticism at every step since joining the franchise in 2019 -- partially because of his supremely confident and straight talking personality, giving him the "arrogant" tag besides his modest IPL numbers.

"I think I've seen very few players who have been criticised like Riyan has for about seven years now. He is the absolute right guy to lead this franchise," Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara said in strong defence of Parag after sealing the top-four berth in Mumbai.


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Season after season his under-performance was questioned until he had a breakout year in 2024 when he amassed 573 runs at a strike rate close to 150 after being promoted to number four.

A standout IPL led to an India call-up later that year but soon after he had to undergo surgery for a chronic shoulder injury, forcing him out of the national set up. With a battery of players ready to take over in the T20 format, Parag has not yet found a way back in.

The Royals top management kept believing in him, so much so that he was handed captaincy post Sanju Samson's departure ahead of Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja.

Even in the ongoing season, Parag has to deal with extreme pressure, partially due to lack of runs in the first half of the tournament before countless trolls were fired at him after he was caught vaping in the dressing room on national TV.

The incident coincided with the team's late season slide that almost put them on the brink of elimination. He made no bones about his team's poor performance but at the same time chose to slam the game's commentators and experts over making alleged personal remarks on the players.

Though his form picked up in the second half, a hamstring injury forced him to miss two games.

Despite not being fully fit, Parag returned for the do or die for the final league game against Mumbai Indians and made a couple of impressive captaincy calls that shut the door on the opposition.

Jofra Archer was promoted up the order for a late swing before bringing back the X-factor pacer to break the threatening stand between Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav.

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Parag wears emotions on his sleeve and his post-match comments were a reflection of that.

"I have taken a lot of brave calls actually this season. That's how I like to lead. That's how I lead Assam as well. You got to take your chances, it's not a gamble," he asserted.

Parag comes from a family of sportspersons with his father being a first-class cricketer and mother an India swimmer. He was just 16 months old when he held a plastic bat in his hands.

Someone who worked with him in his India U-19 days spoke about Parag's often misunderstood personality and exemplary work ethic. The Guwahati-born cricketer was part of the victorious U-19 World Cup batch that included Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw.

"He did not get to do much in that U-19 World Cup but his work ethic stood out. He is a very nice boy. He won't stand in front of you with folded hands but diligently do what is asked of him in practice.

"Of late, he has been having a little bit of trouble with his shoulder, that is why you don't see him bowling that much. He is a special cricketer with the bat in hand and has the natural ability of hitting huge sixes. He has not realised his potential yet and he knows that," said the coach preferring anonymity.

Parag has already done enough to retain leadership of the franchise but he would be leaving not stone unturned on Wednesday night in his push to take RR deeper into the tournament.