The troubles continue to mount for Riyan Parag. The Rajasthan Royals skipper once again failed to get going in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 and returned with a single-digit score against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The right-hander scored just seven runs before being clean bowled by Sunrisers skipper Pat Cummins. These low returns with the bat are not sitting well with former India batter Virender Sehwag, and hence, he questioned the elevation of Parag as the captain.
Sehwag also criticised Parag’s choices on the field as Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down the target of 229 with five wickets in hand and nine balls to spare. The former India opener was quite critical of Parag for giving just one over each to tried and tested spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Bishnoi.
In the match against Sunrisers, Rajasthan tried out eight different bowlers, but the strategy didn’t pay off as the visitors chased down 229 owing to half-centuries by Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.
Earlier, before the start of the IPL 2026 season, Royals’ coach Kumar Sangakkara had revealed that the franchise interviewed five players, including Parag, Sandeep Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja to choose the ideal captaincy candidate and eventually the all-rounder was chosen.
“Rajasthan Royals need to think about Riyan Parag’s captaincy. The management has to think whether he is the right captain for them. You could have interviewed all 25 people, but that doesn’t serve any purpose,” Sehwag said.
“Both Jadeja and Bishnoi bowled just one over. You should have given them one more over. If you give them just one over, who will take wickets? If Bishnoi and Jadeja bowled, they would have gone after the wickets,” he added.
