Riyan Parag has only been able to irritate people since he declared his desire to be the best finisher in Indian cricket.
The batsman for the Rajasthan Royals has received more media attention for his behavior than for his bat skills.
Riyan Parag said to Sportskeeda that the negative publicity during the poor IPL 2020 season affected him. However, after doing a lot of introspection, he realized and accepted that other people’s evaluations would only be as good as his previous attempt. The majority of them are unable to fully understand—or would not even attempt to understand him.
Riyan Parag on his career so far
Parag talked about Assam making it to the Vijay Hazare quarters for the first time since 2012/13.
“It feels great. We have been in the mud for actually a lot of years now. But then, we have changed the team, the atmosphere has changed, young guys have come in. We did very well in the T20s – we won four out of seven, beating MP, Rajasthan, and all of those guys. And here, winning six out of seven, beating all the top teams, the self-belief is touching the roof right now. We are very confident of winning the quarterfinals and making the final,” Parag said.
He then talked about his IPL side Rajasthan Royals.
“I think it’s very simple for me. The message is always clear: they believe in my abilities. 90 percent of the people don’t see what’s going on inside the team, how I am performing in practice matches, what I am doing. Everyone just sees the end product, which has been a bit rough for me. So everyone judges me on that. But the whole Royal family knows what I am capable of and what I have done in practice or even shown glimpses of it in matches. So the belief has always been there. They have backed me for four years. This is my fifth year now and I hope to repay them soon,” he said.
“It’s the tougher job in T20 cricket, to just come in and slog. Numbers six and seven are the hardest places to play in T20 cricket. Only some of the guys have mastered it. Not even some, I’ll just say only MS Dhoni has mastered it and no one else has. And I am doing it at such an early stage in my career. Not even master it, I am just getting to close to knowing what it all feels like – I am just sorting my way through it. So people can just talk whatever they want, but I know how hard a job it is and my team believes in me. 2020 was a very low point in my career. And then, I talked a lot to myself and I figured out that only my opinion matters and no one else’s does. Even if Sangakkara and Sanju Samson tell good things about me and if I don’t believe in them, I think it doesn’t really make any sense or doesn’t have any impact on myself. So I think the outside noise is always there and will always be there. I do well and the same people are going to praise me and keep me as a king. So it doesn’t really matter. I know what I think of myself and I’ll stick to that,” he added.
He also talked about playing for Team India one day and his inspiration Virat Kohli.
“That’s definitely the goal. I think I have had a good Mushtaq Ali, I am having a decent Vijay Hazare – with both bat and ball. If we can win the quarterfinals, make the semis and final, some of the boys can get India A call-ups or anything like that. Because we never qualified, our names didn’t come up. So this time, maybe, I am hoping for an India A call-up, and the India one in the near future,” he said.
“You just look at him and you can be inspired by anything he does. The way he carries himself off the field; on the field, we know what he does. All his antics, everything, everything – he is a whole package. How he involves himself in business and how he promotes his brand, he’s just a walking inspiration,” he said about Virat Kohli.
