Rajasthan Royals batsman Vikram Rathour supported struggling Riyan Parag, stating it is “just a matter of time” before he starts scoring runs, despite the fact that Parag appears to be the team’s weakest member right now.
After losing by four wickets to the Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday, Parag continued his poor form by scoring 12 against them in Kolkata. This was the visitors’ second straight defeat.
“As far as I am concerned, it is just a matter of time. Not everyone makes runs every time. Teams run in such a way that some stay in form, some stay out of form. There is no doubt that he will come back and win us a few games on his own as a batter,” PTI quoted Rathour as saying in the post-match press conference.
With a low strike rate of 122 and a highest of 20, Parag has only scored 61 runs from six innings. Rathour partially blamed his lack of runs on his recuperation from an injury.
“He has a lot of potential. There is nothing going wrong with him. One thing is he has come back from an injury. He has played less competitive cricket before getting into IPL. And IPL is a tough tournament. It is not an easy tournament. But our assessment is how they are playing in the nets, how they are preparing, how they are batting, what is their mindset. He is in a good mind space.”
15-year-old prodigy Sooryavanshi has had incredible starts this season.
Asked if the time is ripe for his India debut, Rathour said: “There are five selectors for him. They are very capable. When they feel the time is right, I am sure he will get into the team. So, forecasting or predicting is not the right thing, I think. Let him play cricket. He is enjoying it. If he keeps playing well, he will get into the Indian team. There is absolutely no doubt.”
However, facing KKR spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy on a slow Eden track on Sunday, Sooryavanshi was rather constrained. He scored 48 off 28 balls, a strike rate of more than 164, which is significantly lower than his average strike rate of more than 200 this season.
“We are not really telling him anything or giving him any message or asking him to play in any way. He is being told to back his instinct, play the way he wants to play. Today the surface was like this, we thought it was a slow wicket. The adaptability that he showed, I think that is a great sign.”
Rathour said that their strategy against Varun Chakravarthy proved costly and that they lost by at least 20–25 runs. After RR collapsed in the middle order from 95/1 at the midway point to 155/9, KKR chased it down with two balls remaining for their first victory in six games.
“We’re short by 20-25 runs, we should have scored somewhere around 175-180 and then dropping Rinku Singh’s catch (when he was on 8) made a difference I can’t really complain about it (the catch). I think it is our batting which should have scored more on the surface.”
“I think we just went a little defensive against Varun. That was the issue I think as a batting unit. We lost the intent against him. We should have played aggressively and with intent. We should have played to make the runs.
“We just went a little defensive against him. That’s one thing we need to sort out,” he said.
