Parag’s impressive knock, along with Donovan Ferreira’s explosive unbeaten 47 off just 14 deliveries, propelled Rajasthan Royals to a formidable 225/6. However, the effort proved insufficient as they went down to Delhi Capitals by seven wickets in their Indian Premier League clash on Friday.
“I don’t think I need to answer any critics or anyone talking about it (vaping). At the end of the day, my job is to get two points. My score and my innings don’t really matter if we lose the game,” Parag said at the post-match presentation.
Heading into this game, Parag had struggled for consistency, managing just 117 runs across nine innings, with a previous best of 29. His dip in form, coupled with the vaping incident that led to a 25 percent match fee fine, had drawn significant attention.
His decision to bat first on a sluggish pitch baffled many, but Parag said they lost the match because of their poor middle-overs bowling. “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.
The RR skipper also had an injury setback and stayed off the field after pulling a hamstring, with Yashasvi Jaiswal taking over the captaincy duties. “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. RR next face Gujarat Titans on May 9.
Ticked boxes: Starc
Australia left-arm quick Mitchell Starc played his first game of the season, making a return from a shoulder injury. Playing his first competitive match after more than three months, Starc was the pick of DC’s bowlers, returning with 3/40, including the first-over dismissal of Yashasvi 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.” 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.
(With PTI inputs)