Rajasthan Royals paid tribute to their skipper Riyan Parag, after their dominant start in IPL 2026. Parag took over the captaincy role after Sanju Samson was traded to Chennai Super Kings. Parag’s captaincy has become a household favourite among cricket fans in India, especially for his bowling changes, which have received plaudits from experts.
Taking to X, RR shared a toss photo of Parag with KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Parag played under Rahane, when the latter was RR skipper.
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“From being led by Ajinkya Rahane in his first days as a Royal to now walking out as our full-time captain against his first skipper, Riyan Parag’s journey is a beautiful reminder that growth takes time, belief and heart”, the franchise wrote.
“Nearly seven years on, this feels special.
“Keep growing, Riyan Parag (C)”, he added.
The photo was taken during the toss on Sunday as RR take on KKR in Kolkata. Parag won the toss and opted to bat. Speaking after winning the toss, he said, “Win or lose, our strategies remain the same. Our discussions remain the same. We always try and look at the mistakes we’ve made and try and look at what we’ve done better and what we can do better.”
Parag has found some critics too. Former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth recently slammed his captaincy approach, and felt that the RR player was only focused on ‘style’
But RR head coach and Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has defended the decision to appoint Parag as captain.
“There were five candidates, including Sandeep Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, ” he revealed.
“We had very strict parameters as to how we are going to choose, what is the process, so we had lots of conversations with all candidates and we realised all are very capable of captaining our side.
“Riyan came across as the top candidate because in all his conversations, he seemed to have matured a lot. He was very reflective in answering all the questions and the questions were very tough, targeted questions. Some of those questions were quite uncomfortable for all of them.
“Riyan, with his maturity, his vision, wanted not just to captain but to lead the team, it made him the leading candidate. We went with an open mind and gave due respect to all the players, gave all an equal chance and picked the best candidate,” he added.