He has a high score of 20 in the tournament.
Riyan Parag is leading Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2026 pretty impressively as they have come through as one of the top three contenders to win the tournament. After six games, they sit third on the points table with four wins and two defeats.
Leading as a full-time captain for the first time in the IPL, Parag has shown a solid tactical acumen and willingness to trust the analytics. Despite suffering back-to-back defeats, his captaincy is not a concern. His batting, however, is hurting not only the Royals but his chances of returning to the Team India set-up.
It took Parag years and years to break through an image of a massive underperformer despite having potential and being backed to the hilt by Rajasthan Royals. He was a constant target of trolls in every season while fans hoped for a breakout season.
He finally delivered that in the IPL 2024, where he piled on 573 runs at an average of 52.09 and strike rate of 149.21. He registered four half centuries in the season while batting in the middle order. He couldn’t replicate the volume of runs in the 2025 edition but it was still decent, with 393 runs at 32.75 average and 166.52 strike rate.
Having taken over the captaincy and being the most senior batter at the franchise, there were high expectations from Parag again. But he has had a horrendous season so far, managing only 61 runs from six innings with a high score of 20.
What this poor start has done is pushed Parag down in the pecking order for a spot in the Indian white-ball set-up. Talking about the T20Is, Shreyas Iyer and Rajat Patidar are having a blockbuster tournament. Riyan Parag is much younger than both of them but now he falls far behind them.
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There is no doubt that the 26-year old has immense potential, and the fans have seen glimpses of it. He is a consistent performer in both white-ball formats in domestic cricket but the IPL performance is what truly gets you into the Indian side.
Riyan Parag has a wide range of shots and has the ability to take down hard lengths of pacers, something that not many possess. For that, he remains in contention but he needs runs to back his talent. The all-rounder was expected to be picked in the T20 World Cup as a replacement but a shoulder injury denied him. Despite all the talent, he has only 10 appearances for India. Following this IPL 2026 start, he might be back to square one.
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