‘I’m going to play for India sooner or later’: Riyan Parag
'I am going to play for India..': Riyan Parag stays optimistic despite not receiving a national call-up
After the most recent IPL, here is how Riyan Parag's career has appeared. He finished up in a tie for third place in terms of wicket-taking, scored the most runs in the Deodhar Trophy, and hit the most sixes (23, ten more than Kerala's Rohan Kunnummal). Further he reached an unprecedented feat of seven straight fifty-score runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, nearly taking the team to the T20 event final. He has already scored hundreds in the Ranji Trophy in back-to-back matches against Kerala and Chattisgarh. The fact that Parag hasn't received a national call-up despite these insane figures showing consistency of the highest order across forms seems confusing.
The belief that Parag isn't the most conventional figure appears to be more hindering. He likes to give it back, whether it's on or off the pitch. The most recent event that has everyone talking was Parag's lavish celebration of hitting his second Ranji hundred, to which he has also responded on social media in a characteristically flamboyant manner.
“People are having fun decoding that, putting up different explanations (of his celebration). I’m not going to take that from them,” said Parag from Guwahati. “My vision is pretty clear. I want to enjoy every game I play and that’s what I am doing. I’m not thinking about the squads or tours, not thinking about the selections or even for that matter who is doing what in the Ranji Trophy,” he said.
In the 2019 Indian Premier League, Parag emerged concurrently with a group of gifted cricketers in the age group who were beginning to establish themselves. After getting off to a decent start with the Rajasthan Royals, Parag understood he needed to go above and beyond the typical player to gain recognition at home.
“When you come from a state like Assam that people don’t associate with cricket, you always have to do double of someone playing from a bigger state,” he said. “And it’s a fact. There’s no cribbing about it. There’s no complaining about it. If someone scores three hundreds, you have to score five hundreds. It’s as simple as that.”
“I have made it clear to the boys that the way Assam played cricket five or ten years back isn’t the way you guys are going to play when I’m captaining the team. As far as my job is concerned, it’s to score and win matches for the team.”
“For me to do what I have been doing is a big moral victory,” he said. “It’s a new thing, you don’t expect these performances from a kid coming from Assam because it hasn’t happened before. I’m not being arrogant about it. But I have worked so hard that it gives me a sense of satisfaction.”
Being passed over will therefore inevitably lead to self-doubt. However, Parag thinks this is a temporary obstacle.
“I’m going to play for the country sooner or later, that belief is always there. No one can take that away from me. I’m fixated on that,” he said. “But I don’t have any particular target that I have to get this many runs in Ranji or in the IPL.”
“I’m not even watching cricket games on TV. I have been talking to my dad, Zubin Bharucha (Rajasthan Royals’ director of performance), discussing a lot of cricket and analysing my game, how I can improve every day. It takes a lot of time so I don’t have time to watch anything else.”
Has he asked himself why he isn’t getting selected?
“I have, actually. Maybe I don’t have enough runs, so fine, I will get more runs. You can only control so many things. Syed Mushtaq Ali (Trophy) was in my control. I could have won us that. Now, it’s the Ranji Trophy. There is always room for improvement. If I get selected, very good. If I don’t, I have got to do that again. There’s only a certain period of time till I can’t get picked. That’s my focus right now.”