Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Riyan Parag recently hit back at his critics who have accused him of playing due to "connections or sources". Repeated failures for the Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the last two seasons has led to the criticism of Parag.
But an outstanding run in the ongoing Deodhar Trophy 2023 has brought him back in the limelight for the right reasons.
Parag has amassed 259 runs in the tournament from five games at an average of over 86 with two hundreds in the last three games which helped East Zone reach the final. He also bagged nine wickets at an average of 18.77.
His performances with the bat and ball have given him the confidence to answer back to his critics who have repeatedly questioned his place in the Rajasthan Royals and Indian domestic cricket squads.
"What hurts me the most is that people think I take it for granted, I have some connections or sources, and that's absolutely horse****, I told you about my journey.
"People from Assam haven't played at the IPL level, I'm going to play a lot more. I do not take anything for granted, I have the craziest work ethic, you can ask people who are close to me.
"All that goes unnoticed because I don't brag about it on social media. You can have all the assumptions if you don't want to know me," Parag told cricket.com.
He went on to add that he doesn't care about what's being said about him on social media or in the cricketing circles as long as he is performing on the field.
"I do not care. I definitely do not care about what people think about me. I am going to play cricket the way started playing.
"I want to play cricket the way I want to play. Performances for me don't really matter, as long as I'm having fun and can stay calm, I think it is sorted, man," Parag added.
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