Riyan Parag (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)

MUMBAI: Soon after he captained the Rajasthan Royals to the IPL-2026 playoffs with a 30-run victory over the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday afternoon in a must-win game, Riyan Parag received a ‘pat on the back’ from his team’s head coach Kumar Sangakkara. “I think I’ve seen very few players who have been criticised, like Riyan has been criticized for about seven years now. Ever since I came to the franchise, there’s always people who like Riyan, but there are a lot of people who didn’t really like him, especially on social media. But that’s the reality of the modern game. When we decided to offer Riyan the captaincy, he is the absolute right guy to lead this franchise. I have no doubt in my mind,” Sangakkara said, backing his captain to the hilt. While his captaincy has been good, Parag’s personal form-just 272 runs in 12 matches@24.72, at a strike rate of 152.80-coupled with him being involved in vaping controversy for which he was fined by the BCCI -hasn’t done the 24-year-old Assam cricketer any good. However, Sangakkara praised Parag for leading RR “exceptionally well” and stressed that “he’s got the respect of all the players and the staff.” “And having watched him, yes, he will grow. He will mature. He will understand himself a lot more. He will learn to understand his players a lot more. But even today, if you look at the calls he makes as captain, the confidence with which he does, he drags himself almost on one foot sometimes to come and play. There’s a huge amount of positives. I think he’s captained exceptionally well. He’s led his team exceptionally well. And when he’s in that dressing room, he’s got the respect of all the players and the staff. That’s all you can ask for. What happens in the next few years, I think it’s a really interesting relationship we have to build with the franchise and Riy. And really help him develop as a captain, as a batter, as a person, and keep supporting him,” Sangakkara complimented.The RR head coach asserted that Parag was perhaps a much misunderstood guy, who was “love, soft and gentle and smart young man.” “He’s a very, very good young man. Sometimes what you see on the outside is not Riyan Parag. Riyan Parag is a lovely, soft, gentle, really determined, smart young man. And he’s learned a lot and matured a lot over the last few years. And he’ll continue on that journey. But I’m very, very proud of him,” Sangakkara concluded.Sangakkara clarified that the call to make England pacer Jofra Archer continue to play in the IPL for the Rajasthan Royals and miss the first Test against New Zealand at home was taken “in collaboration with the England & Wales Cricket Board,” keeping the fast bowler’s bowling workloads in mind.“I don’t know with certainty, but I think it was a collaborative decision between the ECB and Jofra, then talking about his bowling loads, especially a Test match. It’s very difficult to get your bowling loads up very soon when you’re only bowling four overs a game. So, he needs time to get that done and I think that was why the ECB was gracious enough to let him stay and understand that he’ll be fine once he gets his bowling loads up, once he leaves the IPL,” Sangakkara said.