Riyan Parag warns Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube of eating up their spot in the Indian team soon

Uncapped Rajasthan Royals batter Riyan Parag feels that he can make it to the Indian National team very soon on the back of his performances in IPL 2024. 

Riyan Parag had been an investment that the Rajasthan Royals team management was waiting to flourish since his acquisition back in 2019. The franchise has been backing him through thick and thin as Parag has been getting chances regardless of his poor performances. Many considered his overconfidence as the key factor behind his lean patch. 

However, in IPL 2024, Riyan Parag came out as a different beast for the Royals. He finished the recently concluded campaign as the 3rd highest run-getter with Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad - the only batters to score more runs than him. Parag was monumental in Rajasthan's run-in to the playoffs and the same will be expected from him in this domestic season. 

Riyan Parag doesn't care when the India call-up comes up 

On the back of his first-ever IPL season wherein he crossed the 500-run mark, Riyan Parag feels that an India call-up is inevitable. In an exclusive interview with Press Trust of India (PTI), Parag affirmed that the National selectors will have to look at him as an option in the near future. That "he is going to play for India", is not a prediction but it's actually a belief. 

Even when Riyan Parag wasn't scoring runs in the Indian Premier League, he still believed that he would don the Indian jersey regardless. But since he finished as the highest scorer from his team and 3rd highest overall in IPL 2024, Parag sees an opportunity knocking at his door soon.  

"At some point, you'll have to take me, right? So that is my belief, I'm going to play for India. I don't really care when. When I was not scoring runs - I said this in an interview as well that I am going to play for India." - Parag told PTI. 

Parag says he will be ready whenever the selectors call him up 

Riyan Parag went on to further add that the time of his selection is not in his own hands. Whether he gets a call-up in the next Zimbabwean tour or the one after it - is something that is in the hands of the selectors. He is reluctant to take the selection stress and rather wants to do what's in his hands and that is to score runs consistently. 

"Whether it's the next tour, whether it's a tour in six months, whether it's a tour in one year... I don't really put my thoughts behind when I should play. That is the selector's job, that is other people's job. - Parag added. 

The 22-year-old then revealed the conversations he used to have with his Father as a 10-year-old. Riyan and his Father used to discuss the former playing for India regardless of what they went through. That his belief about representing the Men in Blue is not arrogance but it's just sheer confidence in his abilities. 

"That is me believing in myself. That is not me being arrogant. That is what my plan was with my dad when I started playing cricket when I was like 10 years old. We were going to play for India regardless of anything." - Riyan Parag concluded.