MUMBAI: This is turning out to be a breakout IPL season for Riyan Parag. On Monday night at the Wankhede Stadium, when the entire focus was on Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya and their former captain Rohit Sharma, the 22-year-old stole the limelight, silencing the partisan MI crowd by hammering his second successful half-century, which stood out in a low-scoring game. Parag's 38-ball fifty was the centrepiece of Rajasthan Royals' four-win romp over MI.
The youngster was awarded the Orange Cap for being the highest run-scorer at this stage in IPL-his tally reading 181 runs in three matches at an insane average of 181.00, and a brilliant strike rate of 160.17. Having rustled up scores of 43 off 29 balls, 84 not out off 45 balls and 54 not out of 39 balls, Parag, who has been out just once in this tournament, has staked a serious claim for a maiden call-up into India's T20I side -if not in the T20 World Cup in June in the West Indies and USA, then at least at some stage later this year.
