Riyan Parag admitted that his call to keep Ravindra Jadeja out of the attack was a “split-second” decision as the Rajasthan Royals slipped to a defeat against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad. The move quickly became one of the major talking points of the match, especially after SRH piled up 216/6 without Jadeja bowling a single over, even though the surface began offering some help to slower bowlers later in the innings.

Explaining the decision, Parag said he had been reacting to the match situation in real time, with Ishan Kishan batting fluently in the middle overs and putting pressure on the bowling side. He felt taking a chance with Jadeja at that stage could have backfired. “Jaddu bhai, I don’t know, it was just a split second decision.” He added, “Ishan was batting really well, so I didn’t want to take that chance.”

In hindsight, the move raised valid questions. SRH were able to build momentum precisely because they did not have to deal with an additional spin option from Rajasthan, and Kishan’s 91 became the backbone of the innings after the early wickets. From there, the hosts recovered well and accelerated smartly to a strong total.

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Parag, though, also pointed out that the pitch was not straightforward to read. According to him, there was some help for the new ball early on, but the wicket settled later, making the timing of bowling changes difficult.

That added another layer to the decision not to turn to Jadeja. Even so, Jadeja still made his presence felt with the bat. He scored a useful 45 and shared a 118-run stand with Donovan Ferreira to steady Rajasthan after an early collapse.

But the chase never really took off. RR were rocked to 9 for 5 inside the first three overs, and that powerplay damage proved decisive. Although the middle order fought back to some extent, the target had already become far too steep.

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Parag admitted that a few calls could have been handled better, but he felt the defeat came more down to execution than one isolated decision. He also praised SRH’s young seamers for setting the tone early. For Rajasthan Royals, the message is clear: regroup quickly and move on from a setback that Parag still sees as a minor blip in a strong campaign.