"Now they want me in Indian team..." - Riyan Parag's arrogant response to critics after Zimbabwe T20Is selection
The last few months have been like a fairytale for Riyan Parag. The youngster from Assam had a great season in IPL 2024 where he emerged as the third-highest run-scorer of the tournament.
Due to his magnificent performances in the IPL, Parag received his first India call-up. He will now go to Zimbabwe as part of the Indian team and is likely to make a potential debut as well.
Riyan Parag opens up on social media hate before his debut India tour
Before going for his debut India series, the youngster spoke to ESPNCricinfo regarding various things which also involves the hate that he received on social media after a few disappointing IPL seasons.
"Over the years, I have always been very big on finding and fixing solutions myself, so I was not speaking to anyone actually. I was just trying to figure out what went wrong," Parag said
"Why was I getting so much hate? Why was I getting negative energy from all the people except those from the Royals set-up? I tried to understand my game. And once I started doing that, I got this sudden love for getting into cricket a lot. I was never a big cricket geek, but today I like watching videos, analysing my game, comparing certain elements of my batting to someone that does some things better, and learning from it," he added.
"I did not deserve all the trolling" - Riyan Parag
The 22-year-old further also spoke about the challenges of using social media. He added that he spoke with himself and realized that people will keep saying things regardless of what happens.
"And how I look at life is not how someone else is going to look at it. If I see something that is going on with a person but if I don't know what they are going through, I do not really share my opinion on it. But that is not how everyone sees it. Social media nowadays, even if you try to avoid it, you cannot, to be honest. Because if you open Instagram, you will just see something like that. You can just scroll [past] it, but there will be a thousand other posts. So you cannot really not see it. So I was just like, I might as well not open Instagram because I do not need it," Parag explained.
"It is not easy. But then again, after last year, I had a chat with myself. And this sort of a comeback is personal because I had to put up with stuff I did not really deserve. Maybe I have lacked in preparation, maybe I have lacked in a few things, but then I have always put my best foot forward. I thought I did not deserve all the trolling, but what could I do? People are going to say things regardless. Last year they said I was not good enough to play in the IPL. Now they want me in the Indian team. So people change, just like a switch," he concluded.
Riyan Parag had a fantastic IPL 2024 season where he scored 573 runs in 15 matches at an average of 52.09 and a strike rate of 149.22. His promotion to No. 4 worked for him and Rajasthan Royals as he pulled off some consistent performances with the bat.
