'I took a lot of things to heart' - Riyan Parag delves into struggles that came with IPL criticism

Riyan Parag is one of the few cricketers who had to deal with truckloads of criticism from the start of his career. He was taken down on the internet owing to his bold statements and lack of runs to support him. Despite all the off-field scuffle, Rajasthan Royals persisted with him and nurtured the batter. As fitting as it gets, Parag has made a resounding entry to the Indian Premier League 2024 season. 

Before the IPL 2024 edition, the Assam batter had only 600 runs in 54 matches he had played. As a result, he was part of merciless trolling on social media. Parag in IPL 2024 has amassed 284 runs in six games so far. He is only behind Virat Kohli in the orange cap race. Speaking of his journey, he admitted that the trolling does affect and he was taken into the swirl of the criticism he was subjected to.

"Life on the outside of cricket really affects you. And that's one big major part which has played in my career is how I deal with it. It didn't really start out well, I took a lot of things to heart, that were being said about me, etc, whatever it was. I just had to figure out what mattered to me, whose opinions mattered to me, and I figured that out eventually and that has helped,” said Parag as quoted by NDTV Sports.

I'm not really thinking about World Cup to be very honest: Parag

The right-handed batter has impressed fans and pundits alike with his timely knocks in the IPL 2024. Before the cash-rich league beckoned, he had made a substantial sound in the domestic circuit as well. The talks of him being inducted into the Indian squad for the impending T20 World Cup 2024 are doing rounds. Parag however displayed humbleness and expressed the selection factor is not running in his mind as of now.

"I'm not really thinking about it (World Cup) to be very honest. If you told me last year I'd be in this position, I would not believe you. So I'm just really glad to be doing what I am doing, and I just want to continue that. I want to take it one game at a time, and focus on how I can win more matches for the team, because that's more important,” Parag added.