'Always Think You Are The Captain': Riyan Parag Reflects On Brief Captaincy Stint For Rajasthan Royals In IPL 2025
Riyan Parag opened up on his brief captaincy stint with the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025.
After having his first taste of captaincy with the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2025, Riyan Parag opened up on what it was like and his mantra with regards to leadership.
He was handed the leadership role on an interim basis with Sanju Samson forced into an impact substitute role due to the injury he picked up during the recent T20I series against England. But for Parag, it was all about not taking the opposition for granted, no matter how they went in their previous games.
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First step of playing cricket and playing T20, IPL which is such a big event is never taking a team’s form for granted whether it is good or bad," he shared in a video uploaded on X (formerly known as Twitter) in Rajasthan Royals‘ official handle.
Captaincy may not have always been on the cards for Parag, but he was always told by his father, the former first-class player for Assam to always think like one.
“I’ve always played my cricket, that’s how my Dad wanted me to play my cricket, that whenever you play a game, even if you’re not captain, even if you’re not even close to being captain, you always think you are the captain," he commented.
“When Sanju bhaiya texted me a few weeks back that you might have to captain the side, my thought was okay, let’s get thinking," he added.
The young star did not have much time to get engulfed in the hype behind leading an IPL franchise but was rather focused on the job at hand.
“That whole element of everyone hyping it up, okay, it was such a big thing, but honestly didn’t have the time to think about that," he shared.
Under his leadership, Parag was able to get one win at home against the Chennai Super Kings in their most recent fixtures. The Royals struggled to get going in the first two games as they suffered defeats against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (away) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (home).
With the first win of the season in the bag and Samson’s return to lead the side, Parag will hope that he can get back to his best form with the bat as seen from last year, which pushed him for his international debut as well. But they now face the Punjab Kings, who have been dominant this season, and Parag will be put to the test.
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