Rajasthan Royals star Riyan Parag faced a lot of flak on social media for his lackluster form in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Despite a horrendous outing in the latest edition of world's richest T20 tournament, Parag was picked in the 15-member India 'A' squad for the upcoming ACC Men's Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023, giving a golden opportunity to prove his critics wrong. Meanwhile, the official Twitter handle of IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals took a dig at commentator Joy Bhattacharjya as they opened the video with a segment featuring renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle.
During the segment, Harsha Bhogle, one of the most respected voices in cricket, opined that RR included Jason Holder into the mix as they wanted 6 batters and 5 bowlers, Bhattacharjya, who was also part of the discussion and was sitting alongside Bhogle, interrupted by saying 'No, 5 batters, 5 bowlers and Riyan Parag', taking an uncalled swipe at the talented youngster.
In reply to Joy Bhattacharjya comment, RR posted a video via Twitter featuring Riyan Parag as he comes up with an important message to commentators and ex-cricketers.
"People pay their hard-earned money to come watch us perform, not play. So us not performing, them hating. I totally understand," Parag said in the video on the trolls.
"But I think verified accounts, ex cricketers, commentators when they are posting about this on social media and they're taking out time to tweet about me. You can just text me. I would honestly love that.
"Because if anyone can just DM (direct message) me and say 'Hey, I know this is how you play cricket. But if you do this, you may have a better chance of performing'."
Parag revealed he was gutted to miss out on facing two teams - Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore - in the bygone edition of IPL.
"There were two games I was really looking forward to this year. One was Mumbai (Mumbai Indians) and one was RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore). And I didn't play both," Parag added. "Everything was sorted and I was fully ready. I was preparing very hard before the game. Very, very disappointed to not go to Bangalore because that's the team I love playing against.
"Virat, I look up to him so much and sharing the field with him is obviously very big for me. And, you know beating them and it's just a joy for me. But then when you go back to the hotel, you got to look at yourself in the mirror and say 'You have been left out'."