Express Exclusive Riyan Parag interview: ‘People have problem with me chewing gum, putting my collars up, playing golf on off days… I’ve stopped thinking about this’ | Cricket News

Riyan Parag, the lively Rajasthan Royals all-rounder, is only 21. He has yet to feature for his country, has not been on the fringes of national selection either, yet he is among the most trolled cricketers in the country, especially during the IPL when his social-media platform stocks just shoot up.He cannot understand the reason for this obsession. “People have a problem with me chewing gum. If my collar is up that’s a problem. I celebrate after taking a catch that’s a problem. They have a problem with me gaming and playing golf in my off time,” he tells The Indian Express. A hefty price-tag (Royals acquired him for Rs 3.8 crore) does not help.The cricketer from Assam reasons: “I have an idea why people hate me. There is a rulebook about how you should play cricket. The T-shirt should be tucked in, the collar should be down, give respect to everyone, don’t sledge anyone, and I am completely the opposite.”

Superb Grab! 👏
Riyan Parag takes a brilliant diving catch to dismiss Washington Sundar.
East Zone fighting back hard.
Live Stream 📺 – https://t.co/CpJgKT71lK
Follow the match – https://t.co/5eKGBMVQ9b#DeodharTrophy | #Final | #SZvEZ pic.twitter.com/sSaBnhHc7o
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) August 3, 2023
He explains his actions too: “I started playing cricket because it is fun and I am still playing cricket for the fun part. People can’t digest that I am playing on such a big level, and I am enjoying it. People think I am not grateful.”
There were times when his mother had wondered about her son’s haters. “My only advice to her is this is going to happen regardless of whether I do well or bad. I have told her to stay off Instagram and Facebook. They do go through trauma but I don’t think anyone cares about it,” he says. His father, though, understands him.
Troll-immunity
Nonetheless, he has reached such a stage when he no longer cares about criticism, when he has developed a troll-immunity. “I have stopped thinking about all this. No matter what you do, people are going to have a problem with me,” he says.
Some of his critics during the lean IPL 2023 (78 runs in 7 games) have become his admirers during his Deodhar Trophy revival, where was the highest run-getter with 354 runs in five games, including two hundreds and a valiant 95 in the final against South Zone, apart from 11 wickets, ample numbers to be adjudged the player of the tournament.

But Parag is wary of the newfound followers. “I had a decent Deodhar Trophy, and now people are saying what a talent. Tomorrow I will fail in one game and people are going to talk s**t about me. There is no point giving a thought to those faceless trolls. No one has come down to me and told me their exact problem with me,” he says.
But trolls and memes are not going to change the player or person that he is. “I am going to play the way I know; either they can join the wagon or they can oppose it. I am not really concerned about it,” he asserts.

He explains his outlook towards life and social media. ”I am the kind of guy who likes to share his opinion, enjoy my cricket and I am not going to change. I have been clear that I do not care about what people say on social media,” he says.
Kohli’s advice
But during the tough times in the IPL, he sounded out the advice of his idol, Virat Kohli, whose picture he has put as WhatsApp profile picture. “Mai puri baat nahi bata paunga (I cannot tell you the exact conversation). He told me ‘something that has worked for half a year cannot be wrong after a few failures. What happens in the IPL is that the tournament goes on so fast that after failing in two games, you start to question yourself. Everyone makes makes and I have made tons of them. Two-three games don’t go your way and you feel (the need) to change your process and work ethic,” he says.
“It was him telling me that ‘take the reality check and accept that this is a bad phase but it doesn’t mean that you need to change the process that has been working for you’,” he adds.

Unaffected his poor string of scores or the image on social media, he is channeling all his energy into improving his game. In the last couple of seasons, he says, he has matured a lot. “I have worked a lot on my batting. I am trying to take the game deep. I have become more mature on and off the field. I have done a lot of bowling as well. I think a lot of work has been put into my skill, and the results are showing now. I think I was a little reckless a few years back. Now I am learning the tricks of the trade,” he says, adding that ‘the biggest challenge for any cricketer is consency.”
He wants to be a better finisher too. “Finishing is a tough job. You have to master it. I wanted to do better last IPL, but then it’s how it is. I think the team understands that, I think everyone who knows the game understands that. But the fans won’t notice the technicalities. Going down at No 6 and No 7, there is the challenge to hit it out of the park from ball one. It’s a thankless job,” he says.
In 54 IPL games, Parag has managed only 600 runs, but he admits he has been an underachiever. “A cricketer who is motivated to play for the country is always going to think that he has underperformed. Last night, I was out on 95 and I still think that I could have won the game,” he says.
Buoyed his return to form, he hopes to show his true prowess in the next IPL. “There is going to be something that they have seen in me during practice or in the nets, or in the domestic season. There’s no other reason for them to back me. It’s not a free opportunity that they are giving me. There is a reason they are sticking with me and hopefully, I can show that in the next season,” he says.
Though he is seen as a bits and pieces entity, he considers himself a “proper” all-rounder. “I consider myself a proper all-rounder. I know those who watch IPL think I am not an all-rounder. But those who follow domestic cricket know how many overs I bowl in the Ranji Trophy. I can tell you I am 100 percent, a proper all-rounder,” he says.
He was disappointed that he did not bowl a single ball in the last IPL. “I was bowling in the practice game and in the nets. I don’t know why I didn’t bowl. I don’t know the team’s thoughts,” he says.

Young Riyan Parag about Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/HTxIncU922
— Don Cricket 🏏 (@doncricket_) August 3, 2023
He, though, has one of the finest brains to pick from, that of Ravi Ashwin. He details their discussions: “The talk with him has always been to assess the situation and what to bowl in what circumstance.He bowls a lot of variations but doesn’t bowl it all the time. I have tried to pick his brains on the carrom ball, how to get more revs on the ball, the top spin and other stuff, in fact about all the minute details of the bowling. He has been patient with all my queries.”
Parag, who played in the U-19 World Cup-winning team in 2018, wants to emulate his then teammates Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Mavi and represent the country. But he knows the difficulties too. “That they are playing for the country is motivating in a positive way. But then there’s a thing, it’s about where you bat as well, what type of role you have been given. My role is completely different from anyone from my batch, who has played for the country. I bat at No 6 or 7, even in this Deodhar Trophy I was batting at 6. That’s a whole different ball game. There is no real comparison. I have not seen anyone from my batch playing at 6 or 7 for the country,” says Parag. But the tribe of finishers in the country thinly-populated, his days could not be far away, provided he sustains his rich vein of form in domestic cricket.