Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan showered praise on Riyan Parag’s leadership after Rajasthan Royals obliterated Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Monday.
Pathan said the RR skipper was guile in his bowling changes, particularly in his usage of debutant Brijesh Sharma and Ravi Bishnoi. The former all-rounder highlighted how Parag got Sharma back into the attack after CSK lost six wickets.
The medium pacer was able to plumb opposition debutant Kartik Sharma in front of the wickets. Similarly, Ravi Bishnoi caught-and-bowled Matt Henry at the business end.
Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “After six-seven wickets, Riyan Parag brought Brijesh Sharma back into the attack. He came and took a wicket. I was very impressed with Riyan Parag’s captaincy, with the way he gave confidence to his players. There was no need to bring Bishnoi, but he got him back at the end against Matt Henry. He kept the long-term vision in mind. As a young captain, that was very impressive.”
On the other hand, Pathan showered praise on Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who scored 52 runs off just 17 balls. The youngster completed his fifty off just 15 balls, the third-joint fastest half-century in the IPL.
Pathan added, “This is a very special player; he is destiny’s child. In my 20-year career, I have not seen such a young player scare bowlers from different parts of the world. Noor seemed to be on the back foot. Matt Henry, who took wickets in the first over at the T20 World Cup, was scared to pitch the ball up.”
The 2007 T20 World Cup final hero backed the youngster to have an amazing run in IPL 2026.
“I had been saying that he would face some challenges, but he would overcome those. He played seven matches last year. He has scored around 1000 runs between the two seasons. He has scored runs everywhere, from U19 to red-ball cricket. A few failures will be there as there are 14 matches, but despite that, he will score big runs,” he elaborated.
Rajasthan Royals will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Saturday.
