Irfan Pathan heaped praise on the youngster who has taken the IPL 2024 by storm with his consistent performances so far.
IPL 2024 has been excellent for the domestic Indian players till now. While some of them are unknown, some of them have been playing for some years now but had failed to make a mark. But this year, these players have took the tournament by storm and even surpassed the performances of some of the prominent international players.
Shashank Singh, Mayank Yadav, Riyan Parag, Ashutosh Sharma, and Harshit Rana are some of those names. These players have put their names in the selectors’ list for the national team selection. With more matches to come, we could be in for more breathtaking performances from these domestic talents.
Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan heaped praises on Riyan Parag and believed that his runs in domestic cricket and IPL 2024 can earn him an international debut within a year.
“100 percent, it might happen even before that (Riyan Parag making it into the Indian team within a year). I said it and it will happen, not because he has done well in this IPL, he has been scoring runs in domestic cricket and we have to value our domestic cricket. If a guy like him who scores a ton of runs in domestic cricket and doesn’t get picked, it will be a highly disappointing thing because you want players like that to come up,” Pathan said.
“He is young, he is exciting and right now he is batting at number 4. Imagine if he bats at number 5 and 6 and is able to win the games. When he was batting at five and six he was just 17-18 years old and a lot of people unnecessarily gave him flak,” the former India player explained.
Pathan also mentioned that he always rated Parag very highly because of his talent even when he was having a torrid time in the IPLlast year.
“He is young, he is different, let him be he is a new-age Indian cricketer that’s why I always supported him. Even last year I rated him highly because I see there is a talent, all great to him how he has come up this season and Rajasthan Royals have backed him as well,” he further added.
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Riyan Parag has scored 284 runs in 6 matches so far in IPL 2024. He has scored these runs at an astonishing average of 71 and a strike rate of 155.19. He is second on the list of Orange Cap, just behind Virat Kohli. Parag was also the highest run-getter in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 with 510 runs in 10 matches at an average of 85 and a strike rate of 182.79.
While batting at No. 4 in IPL 2024, the 22-year-old has looked more confident and matured this season. His consistent performances have made sure Rajasthan Royals’ batting has not been affected despite their star openers going through a lean patch.
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