Former India batter Krishnamachari Srikkanth did not hold back in his criticism of Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag after the franchise suffered a defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. The Royals were outplayed throughout the contest, and Srikkanth focused particularly on a few captaincy calls that, in his view, failed to help Rajasthan at crucial moments. He also pointed to Parag’s batting form as another worrying factor, especially in a chase where the skipper again struggled to make an impact.
Heading into the game, there were already doubts around Parag’s consistency with the bat. In the ongoing season, he has cleared the 20-run mark only once so far, despite Rajasthan enjoying a strong start that had them winning four matches in a row before this setback. On Monday, the concern became sharper when Parag was dismissed for just 4, and Rajasthan needed him to steady the innings after an early top-order collapse. In the end, the Royals fell short and lost by 57 runs.
Srikkanth’s criticism extended beyond batting to Parag’s bowling decisions as well. In the match against SRH, he questioned why Parag chose not to hand Ravindra Jadeja the ball, a call that surprised many. Parag did bowl an over himself, but the veteran all-rounder was not given the opportunity to roll his arm over during the contest.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth launched into Parag’s role and impact, saying Parag appeared to be in the team more for appearance than substance. He also raised the question of baffling selection choices, including the decision to leave Jadeja out of the bowling attack, and challenged the logic given for it. “He’s only there for style. As usual, he did nothing with the bat and spoke at the post-match presentation. He’s just there for style and does nothing else. He doesn’t bowl Jadeja an over and then offers an explanation that a left-hander was playing. Is there some rule that a left-arm spinner can’t bowl to a left-hander? It’s absurd,” Srikkanth said.
SRH, meanwhile, delivered the kind of performance that turned the match firmly in their favour. After putting up 216 for six, driven by skipper Ishan Kishan’s 44-ball 91, they bundled out Rajasthan for 159 in 19 overs. The win brought Sunrisers back to winning ways in style after suffering consecutive defeats previously.
Srikkanth also took aim at Rajasthan’s bowling, highlighting how the combined spells from Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma and Ravi Bishnoi proved costly. In his assessment, the runs conceded in that stretch effectively decided the match. “The 11 overs between Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, and Ravi Bishnoi went for 142 runs. That’s where the match was over. Wherever Sandeep Sharma bowled, they smashed him, and Deshpande was a total failure. Suddenly, RR also has to start thinking about their bowling combination. If they bowl like this, they’ll receive a thrashing,” Srikkanth added.
