Fans in cricket stadium in Guwahati, host of Super Sunday's IPL 2023 match between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals, reserved loudest of cheer for home favorite Riyan Parag as the 21-year-old all-rounder, who made his IPL debut in 2019, played his 50th game in the world's richest T20 league. Ahead of Riyan's special milestone, the talented youngster received special support from his grandfather. Rajasthan Royals took to Twitter to share a special picture just before the start of RR vs DC IPL 2023 match. The viral picture shows Riyan's grandfather wearing the RR IPL 2023 jersey to support his beloved grandson.
"This is my 5th year in the IPL. For a kid from Assam, that just never happens. It's a great opportunity for me to be able to sustain that and I'm grateful to the RR team management for backing me through every phase," Riyan exclusively told Times Of India (TOI).
"I have played a lot of cricket at home but playing in IPL is a different ball game altogether, and as it was the first match there were jitters as well and I think those were good jitters. But when things settled down, it felt really good to play in front of my home crowd," added Riyan.
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Riyan Parag has so far scored a total of 556 runs in 50 Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, with just two fifties and a best score of 56 not out.
In today's match, after Sanju Samson's dismissal for a duck, a big knock was expected from local boy Riyan Parag but he failed to impress , scoring just 7 runs in 11 balls, which did not include a single boundary. Fans on social media lambasted Parag for his prolonged lean patch in the tournament, with some even suggesting Rajasthan Royals to drop the youngster for future games.