 "Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag smashed six fours and eight sixes during his knock of 95 off 45 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. AP")
Riyan Parag produced arguably his best performance in the Indian Premier League on Sunday in the form of a 45-ball 95 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Parag’s blistering knock not only helped Rajasthan Royals recover from a disastrous start in their chase of the 207-run target set by the home team, it nearly got them over the line, keeping the team in the hunt until the very end before they fell narrowly short by just one run .
Among the highlights of the afternoon clash of the double-header on Sunday was the Assam batter smashing veteran spin-bowling all-rounder Moeen Ali for five consecutive sixes in the 13th over of RR’s chase. Parag, who has filled in as captain for Sanju Samson for the most part this year, not only brought up his first half-century of the ongoing season but rekindled his team’s hopes of pulling off a victory.
The 23-year-old’s onslaught against Moeen led to an old social media post of his going viral. “My inner conscience says i’m hitting 4 sixes in an over at some point this IPL..,” Parag had written in a post on X, formerly Twitter shortly before the 16th season two years ago.
Parag, who smashed six fours and eight sixes during his stay at the centre, fulfilled that prophecy of his, and then some more. Though in the end, he would have been a lot happier had his knock come in a winning cause.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“I was planning to stay till the last 2 overs, but unfortunately I got out in the 18th over. It was a miscalculation from my side,” Parag said after the match.
Royals fall short despite Parag’s heroics
RR have already been eliminated from the playoffs race in what has been a forgettable season for the 2008 IPL champions. After officially getting knocked out with a 100-run thrashing at the hands of the red-hot Mumbai Indians in Jaipur on Thursday, the Royals suffered their ninth defeat in 12 matches on Sunday with the one-run loss against the Knight Riders.
Andre Russell had wound back the clock with a vintage knock, smashing four fours and six sixes in an unbeaten 57 off 25 balls that helped KKR cross the 200-mark after skipper Ajinkya Rahane opted to bat. ‘Dre Russ’ added 61 for the fourth wicket with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who scored 44 off 31 balls.
RR were off to a disastrous start in reply, losing their first two wickets with just 8 runs on the board and later getting reduced to 71/5. Parag, however, brought his team back in the hunt with a 92-run stand for the sixth-wicket partnership with Shimron Hetmyer (29 off 23).
And even after Hetmyer and Parag were dismissed in quick succession, Shubham Dubey (25 not out off 14 balls) and Jofra Archer (12 off 8) kept RR’s hopes alive until the latter was run-out in the final delivery of the match while dashing back for a second run.