Riyan Parag

Riyan Parag IPL factfile

- An Under-19 World Cup winner in 2018, Riyan Parag earned his first IPL gig when Rajasthan Royals signed him ahead of the 2019 season for INR 20 lakh.

- That season, he became the youngest IPL half-centurion at 17 years and 175 days when he hit a 49-ball 50 against Delhi Capitals.

- Tasked with the role of finisher, Parag found little success in his first five seasons. Ahead of IPL 2022, Royals bought Parag back for INR 3.8 crore, but he managed just 183 runs in 14 innings at an average of 16.64 and strike rate of 138.64. But having been identified as a future star, Parag continued to receive the franchise's backing.

- In the 2023-24 Indian domestic season, he seemed to turn a corner. He hit 510 runs at a strike rate of 182.79 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s for Assam. This included seven back-to-back half-centuries. He was also the highest six-hitter at the 50-over Deodhar Trophy, the inter-zonal tournament. And the form extended into IPL 2024, where in the first half of the tournament, he was constantly in contention for the Orange Cap.

- Parag finally repaid RR's faith in him in 2024, in what was his sixth season with the franchise. He finished with 573 runs, the most by an RR batter that season, and hit four half-centuries. Parag's 33 sixes were also the most by any RR batter in 2024. That even helped him earn a T20I and an ODI debut for India. RR retained Parag for INR 14 crore at the mega auction for IPL 2025.

Riyan Parag player profile

Parag, a batting allrounder from Assam, impressed as an Under-19 player during India's 2017 tour of England, playing alongside Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw, among others - he scored three fifties in four innings in the four-dayers. That Indian team went on to win the 2018 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, but Parag only scored 17 runs in the two innings he got to play while also picking up three wickets.

Before IPL 2019, Parag was bought by Rajasthan Royals for his base price of INR 20 lakh and has been with them since. That season, he became the youngest (at the time) to hit an IPL fifty.

A lean phase followed, but he reinvented his batting and came out more confident in 2023, winning the Player-of-the-Series award in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy List A tournament - he was the highest run-getter, the highest six-hitter, and had the third-highest number of wickets.

In the 2023-24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s, he was again the highest run-getter and highest six-hitter. The same season, Parag hit the second-fastest Ranji Trophy century ever, getting there in 56 balls against Chhatisgarh.