IPL 2024: ‘Glad people are taking my name for the right reasons,’ says Riyan Parag after SRH vs RR

“It was dramatic. I think that’s one word that I would like to use. Always, never fun to end up on the losing side. We did a lot of things right,” said Riyan Parag of Rajasthan Royals after his side lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by just one run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Thursday night.

“It’s just one bad game, I think. We just probably made a few errors in like 2-3 overs and that cost us the game,” said Riyan, who, in the company of Yashasvi Jaiswal, almost pulled it off for Royals.

“It was very calculative of what we wanted to do. Just while trying that scoop because [T.] Natarajan was bowling good slow bouncers. Hence, he did the yorker and then he went with that shot,” he said of Jaiswal’s dismissal at a crucial stage after the century stand for the third wicket.

“I was trying to muscle it for a six. Probably an error in execution but I don’t really think we threw our wickets. It would have been nice to stay at the end,” Riyan said about his own dismissal.

“But, again, you have got to give credit to how they bowled. It’s their home ground. They surely bowled like they knew how the wicket has played. Especially Cummins, bowling that 19th over,” he said. “They bowled better than us in the slog overs,” he added.

“I think it was good for the first six overs in the second innings. Because of the brand new ball. But then, as soon as the seventh over started, it started gripping as well. So, I think it was an even play, an even field for both the teams,” Riyan said even while stressing it was pretty much the same in both the innings.

“In the first six overs, we bowled really well. Last few overs, I think we could have cut them down for another 10-15 runs. But yeah, like I said, it happens,” he said.

“They batted well, Nitish batted so well. Some of the sixes were just pure skill play. So yeah, you can’t really blame the game here. You just have to give credit to the way they played,” Riyan said.

On his own batting, the Royals star batter said he had to improve in a lot of areas.

“I can never perfect it, but I can get a lot better in some of the areas that I know. And, yeah, I’m never looking for perfection. But then, every game that I make these errors, I make these small mistakes, I try to learn from them,” he said.

“I’m just glad they’re taking my name for the right reasons now. So, I wasn’t really thinking about anything. I’m really, really happy for the boys in our team,” Riyan said on whether he was thinking about World Cup selection.