Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach and director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara has stated that the young batter Riyan Parag hasn’t been in good form in IPL 2023. He also shared that the issue will be looked into during training sessions in the upcoming days as well. Parag scored 15* off 12 balls as Rajasthan Royals lost to the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 10 runs on Wednesday, April 19, as they failed to chase a target of 155. Before the game against LSG, Parag had scored seven, 20, 5, and 7 as well. Although he struck a four and a six in his innings against LSG, it wasn’t enough.
And, Kumar Sangakkara said in the post-match press conference: “In that situation (last couple of overs), he can just go out and hit as many sixes as quickly as he can. It’s a very clear plan that Riyan has. We had Dhruv (Jurel) to kind of take care of the pace and we just needed 2-3 sixes in the middle overs.“He’s (Parag) been batting well in the nets. We do back our players quite well, especially when he comes in as an impact sub for us or DDP (Devdutt Padikkal) comes in as an impact substitute, looking at the local talent that we have. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been in good form. We will assess that and address that at his training and see where we get to over the next few games.”
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Notably, he has a poor overall IPL record. In 52 matches, he has managed to score only 576 runs which came at an average of 16.46 and a strike rate of 123.61 as well. While chasing 155, Rajasthan Royals got off to a steady start as their openers added 87 runs. But their middle order couldn’t capitalize on the same. And, Kumar Sangakkara said that the batters weren’t committed enough to hit the bowlers as well.
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“At the back end, especially (Ravi) Bishnoi’s last over, we weren’t committed enough to take him down look for three four sixes. Even if the batter got out that time it didn’t matter. It was a tough pitch. Lucknow bowled really smartly but at the same time we should have got over the line. The openers put on a very good stand. We were needing eight once the 12th over was finished with 10 wickets in hand, that’s not very difficult on a big ground,” Kumar Sangakkara concluded.
