If not for a shoulder injury and a rehabilitation phase that stretched into the early parts of the year, Riyan Parag might have been in India’s T20 World Cup conversations. Instead, he was consigned to the fringes. A brief window opened when uncertainty hovered over Washington Sundar, but those hopes were quickly snuffed out.
But even that fleeting consideration told you how much he is valued within the system at a time when India’s T20 stocks are at an all-time high. He perfectly fits a role India have long sought in white-ball cricket: a top-six batter capable of shifting gears seamlessly while also contributing with the ball.
This is why IPL 2026 – his first opportunity since completing his rehab – is massively crucial for his own career graph to take off. But six games in, his performances have fallen short of the lofty standards he exhibited in 2024, when he struck 573 runs at nearly 150, resulting in an India debut.In any other set-up, 61 runs in six innings with a highest of 20 would have been scrutinised more. But it helped that Rajasthan Royals began the season with four straight wins, allowing Parag some leeway.
That leeway is partly down to Parag’s unquestionable ability and promise, but also because of his role within the set-up. His appointment as full-time captain following Sanju Samson’s departure is an indication of how high his ceiling is, because he was chosen from a tightly contested race that included Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, and Ravindra Jadeja.
Under head coach Kumar Sangakkara and Rahul Dravid before him, the franchise has leaned on a process that goes beyond numbers. Detailed interviews gave a peek into his clarity of thought, communication, and temperament. Parag’s outspokenness, coupled with his growing body of work and interim captaincy last year when Samson was injured in 2025, tilted the scales in his favour.
Kumar Sangakkara has backed Parag to come good•BCCI
Nearly halfway into the season, while Parag the captain has impressed, his batting numbers have been modest. Four of his six dismissals have come within his first ten balls. Among batters to have faced at least 50 balls, his strike rate of 122 is the fifth-lowest.
On Wednesday against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), he could come up against two bowlers who have had decent success against him. Mohammed Shami has dismissed him three times in five innings, while Avesh Khan has dismissed him twice in four.
All told, the RR top three of Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Jurel have accounted for 72% of the runs. The previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was perhaps Parag’s best chance to make an impact in the middle. Coming in at 97 for 2 in the 11th over, he was out for 12 off 14 attempting to hack Varun Chakravarthy, only to be done in by the drift and dip. RR eventually limped to 155, which KKR chased down.
Prior to the KKR game, Sangakkara brought a degree of context that puts those inferior numbers into perspective.
“When I am watching Riyan, he’s hitting the ball off the middle,” Sangakkara said prior to the KKR game. “I’ve been through this myself as a cricketer. There are some days when you’re batting well, you’re just not getting the runs. Especially in the middle order in T20s, you’re not looking at long innings. You’re looking at impact.”
Parag could be amid finding that balance now, of trying to go hard from the get-go versus trying to get his eye in. For now, he would hope the inferior numbers are merely a dip in form and wouldn’t become a point of difference in their race to the playoffs. A big knock against LSG could reassure him and allay those fears.
Shashank Kishore is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo