Fans have been very harsh on Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Riyan Parag after he had another bad game with the bat in the IPL 2023 match against the Gujarat Titans on April 16 with him now accused of nepotism
Parag’s bad form kept going, and he was only able to score five runs in the game. This led to more accusations of favouritism, since Parag is the son of the team’s coach, Parag Dasgupta.
The 20-year-old batsman came up to bat when his team was fighting at 47/3 after 8.3 overs, and his dismissal in the 11th over made things worse for his team. Shimron Hetmyer’s 43 runs without being out helped RR win the game by three wickets in the end.
Riyan Parag and Rajasthan Royals accused of nepotism as memes go viral on Twitter
Riyan parag for selection #RRvsGT pic.twitter.com/VCXFEGJauu
— ๎จAnoop ๐ฎ๐ณ (@ianooop) April 16, 2023
Riyan Parag in every match of IPL 2023#RRvsGT #RiyanParag #GTvsRR pic.twitter.com/IvnuarSP5t
— Ashutosh Srivastava ๐ฎ๐ณ (@sri_ashutosh08) April 16, 2023
Riyan Parag in Rajasthan Royals team: #GTvsRR #IPL2023pic.twitter.com/YT00hRtIQh
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) April 16, 2023
Riyan Parag in his last 36 IPL innings –
Runs: 401
Avg: 13.36
SR: 122.25
Ducks: 3If "nepotism" had a face! pic.twitter.com/xG5CxCpTYn
— Rแดษชแดแดแด ๎จ (@OverMidWicket) April 16, 2023
But even though Riyan Parag won, people went on social media to criticise his performance. Several tweets said that he should be replaced by a better player and that the only reason he was on the team was because of his family ties.
Rajasthan Royals’ selection policy under scrutiny as Riyan Parag’s poor form
This is not the first time that Parag’s efforts have been criticised. He has been suffering with his form all season. In the seven games he has played so far, he has only scored 70 runs.
People are worried about how the team chooses its players, and many are questioning the choice to keep a player who is clearly out of shape. Parag was defended by RR captain Sanju Samson after the game. He said that Riyan Parag is a talented player who is trying hard to get back into shape.
Just Riyan Parag thingsโจ#RRvsGT pic.twitter.com/opGLPOa0TI
— Abisek (@mayyena) April 16, 2023
Even though they were criticised, RR’s win over GT moved them up to fifth place on the points table. On Wednesday, April 19, they will play the Lucknow Super Giants.
The game against LSG will give Riyan Parag another chance to prove his doubters wrong and silence them. But because the IPL is a very competitive tournament, he will be under a lot of pressure to do well and show his worth to the team.