Rajasthan Royals (RR) assistant and bowling coach Shane Bond has said that youngster Riyan Parag reminded him of star Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav. Parag played an unbeaten knock of 54 runs off 39 balls against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Monday. He hit 5 fours and 3 sixes with a strike rate of 138.46. The 22-year-old was handed the ‘orange cap’ in IPL 2024 after his blistering knock. The Rajasthan-based franchise registered a six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Bond said Parag has ‘extreme talent’ and has matured as a cricketer.
“He reminds me a bit of Surya, who came to Mumbai a few years ago. This is what he looks like – he has extreme talent. He has just matured as a cricketer even though he is only 22,” Bond said. .
The RR assistant coach added that the franchise’s main focus is on winning matches in the tournament.
“If your team is successful, you’re on a winning team, selections and rewards come from that. That’s been more of our focus, forgetting all that other outside noise and just working really hard for each other,” he says. added.
To recap the match: After winning the toss, RR chose to bowl first. Trent Boult (22/3) destroyed the MI top order in the powerplay to reduce it to 20/4. A 56-run partnership between skipper Hardik Pandya (34 in 21 balls, with six fours) and Tilak Varma (32 in 29 balls, with two sixes) briefly brought some order to the innings before MI suffered another collapse to end at 125/ 9 off 20 overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal (3/11) and Nandre Burger (2/32) bowled well for RR and rocked the MI batting line-up with regular wickets, never giving them a chance to breathe.
In the chase, RR lost openers Jos Buttler (13), Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) while skipper Sanju Samson could only make 12 in 10 balls. Reduced to 48/3 they found themselves in a difficult situation. But Riyan Parag pulled off another brilliant save and scored 54* in 39 balls, with five fours and three sixes, taking his side to a six-wicket win with 27 balls to spare.
Akash Madhwal (3/20) was the choice of the bowlers for MI.
After the win, the Rajasthan-based franchise is at the first position in the standings with six points at a net run rate of 1,249. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya’s side are at the bottom of the table and are yet to score points.
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