Riyan Parag, the Assam and Rajasthan Royals all-rounder has often found himself on the receiving end of criticism from fans, experts and commentators alike not just for the lack of performances and his antics but also for his social media. Parag, who has been trusted by Rajasthan Royals for the middle-order job for five years now, hasn't really lit the tournament with his performances and had another quiet season where he averaged just 13 in 7 matches he played.
However, his domestic performances for Assam in the Vijay Hazare Trophy have earned him a place in the India A squad for Emerging Teams' Asia Cup 2023. Parag is part of the 15-member squad led by U-19 World Cup-winning skipper Yash Dhull while the Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder Abhishek Sharma has been named his deputy.
In a heartfelt conversation with Rajasthan Royals, Parag has addressed trolls and had a message for former cricketers. Parag said that the fans have the right to criticise players when they don't perform as they have spent their hard-earned money to watch them but when the experts and former cricketers do the same publicly, it's not right and rather they should directly message him.
Rajasthan Royals shared a clip of the conversation that happened on June 22 as Parag said, "People pay their hard-earned money to come watch us perform, not play. So us not performing, them hating. I totally understand. But I think verified accounts, ex-cricketers, commentators when they are posting about this on social media and they're taking out time to tweet about me. You can just text me. I would honestly love that.
"Because if anyone can just DM (direct message) me and say 'Hey, I know this is how you play cricket. But if you do this, you may have a better chance of performing'," he further added.
Parag also shared his thoughts on being left out of big games against Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore while saying that he kept looking at himself in the mirror. The 21-year-old also shed light on how the fans expect him to post about only cricket on social media but instead, he uses it to show himself as a person and his personal life.
"My Instagram is about my life. It's not about my cricket. Sure, in the season if you were doing something, we are going to post about it. But it's mostly about my life. And that's gaming and golfing. So, I like to show that. People don't understand it, but I've got no control over that," Parag said.
Parag will hope to continue his domestic form in the Emerging Asia Cup as this could be an important tournament not just personally for him but from the IPL auction perspective as well since many expect him to be released by the Royals ahead of the next season.
India A squad for Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023: Sai Sudharsan, Abhishek Sharma (VC), Nikin Jose, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Yash Dhull (C), Riyan Parag, Nishant Sindhu, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Manav Suthar, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya, Harshit Rana, Akash Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rajvardhan Hangargekar
Standby list of players: Harsh Dubey, Nehal Wadhera, Snell Patel, Mohit Redkar
