Rajasthan Royals may have faltered in their IPL match against Delhi Capitals on Friday, but their captain Riyan Parag has bounced back to form with a brilliant 90 after the vaping incident.
“I don’t think I need to answer any critics or anyone talking about it (vaping). But at the end of the day, my job is to get two points. So, my score and my innings don’t really matter if we lose the game,” said Parag at the post-match presentation.
Parag’s 50-ball 90 and Donovan Ferreira’s 14-ball 47 not out powered RR to 225 for 6, but Delhi Capitals chased down the target and won the match by seven wickets.
Before this knock, Parag had struggled for form with the bat and had scored 117 runs from nine innings. Then he courted a controversy for vaping inside the dressing room and was fined 25 per cent of his match fee.
His decision to bat first on a slow surface surprised everyone, but he backed his decision and said the match was lost because of poor bowling by the Royals bowlers in the middle overs.
“I think it was a good score. I thought 200 was a par score here. It was going to slow down a bit, but I think we could have bowled way better in the middle overs, not let them get away a little too much.
“And then a lot of boundaries in one single over and that repeated. So, I felt we missed the trick with that, but no harm with the decision we made,” he added.
Parag also stepped off the field which looked like a hamstring pull, with Yashasvi Jaiswal taking over the captaincy in his absence. Parag hopes to be available for RR’s next game against Gujarat Titans on May 9.
“Hopefully it’s not too serious, but a little bit on the hamstring. Thankfully, we have about a week break, so we’ll clear it out,” he added.
Australia left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc returned to action from a shoulder injury, playing in his first match of the season.
Playing in his first competitive cricket match after more than three months, Starc headlined DC’s bowling with figures of 3 for 40, including the first-over dismissal of Jaiswal.
“Nice to get the cobwebs out. Good to get some running in the legs, get some training in. Nice return… I mean I’ve been bowling for a period of weeks. Haven’t bowled at a batter until three nights ago. In terms of ticking the boxes with the skills, I was in a position to do most of what I want to do,” Starc said.
For Delhi, the chase was set up by a 110-run opening partnership between KL Rahul (75) and Pathum Nissanka (62) as they snapped their three-match losing streak.
“Some areas we needed to get sharp and crisp, really happy to get this win and really hoping to sting in some wins,” said Rahul after winning the Player of the Match award.
