Former Indian player Sanjay Manjrekar was surprised to see Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) backing of Riyan Parag, despite his failure to deliver in two IPL seasons. However, Parag was dismissed for 18 off 16 balls during RR’s match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Navi Mumbai on Thursday while chasing 193 and they scored 155 for nine.
Following the defeat, Manjrekar questioned Rajasthan’s decision to purchase Parag at the auction for ₹3.8 crore, pointing to his record in the last two IPL seasons. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, he said: “Riyan Parag, in two full IPL seasons, and he averaged about 11. His strike rate was around 110. But, they went for him in this auction and bought him at a much higher price of ₹3.8 crore. There’s something that they have seen in him, which we haven’t seen in last three years. He’s young and I hope eventually we get to see why they keep going for Riyan Parag, with the kind of returns that he has given.”
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Riyan Parag got the chance to bat four times so far in this IPL season, registering scores of 12, 5, 8 and 18 as well. Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar said that he was impressed by left-arm seamer Yash Dayal’s performance in his debut IPL match where he ended with figures of three for 40, including the scalps of Devdutt Padikkal, Rassie van der Dussen and Yuzvendra Chahal.
“What I have seen with Yash Dayal, forget about how many runs were scored against him, is that he can get the ball up there at pace. He’s got the bounce and he is also quick in the air when he bowls full. This is a guy you’ve got to keep backing because he has got some exciting fundamentals to build on,” Sanjay Manjrekar stated.
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Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting said: “He was really nice to watch. He copped a bit of stick against Buttler early on, but it was good to see the way he bounced back. The way he pulled it back and stemmed the flow of runs was impressive.”
