Riyan Parag said that coming into the Duleep Trophy 2025 tournament, his main goal was to get some game time in competitive cricket. He also said that he didn`t focus on his performances.
“The match felt good. I mean, that was the main goal when I came here to play the game. Performances, I didn`t really focus on it that much. I just wanted to have some fun. I haven`t played competitive cricket in a long time,” said Parag.
He earlier sustained a shoulder injury, which also affected his batting and bowling in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Since then, the Assam-born cricketer has not played any cricket before getting Duleep Trophy 2025, where he led the East Zone.
“Since the IPL, I haven`t really played any cricket. IPL also, I was managing a lot of stress and stuff like that. But this was a good outing. Not in a good way with the amount of overs we fielded,” he said.
The right-hander also expressed happiness with his batting display in the match. In the game against North Zone, Parag scored 39 runs off 47 deliveries. His knock included three boundaries and two maximums.
“But then still, rolled my arm for a few overs, batted for a while. I could have converted it for a bigger score, but I`m happy. The arm also feels much better,” he said.
In North Zone`s second innings, he also bowled 22 overs and bagged one wicket by conceding 78 runs.
Now, Parag will have to wait until mid-October for another round of cricket, either in Ranji Trophy or during India`s away white balls series against Australia, should he get selected.
Understandably, Parag was disappointed that he could not take the East Zone ahead in the Duleep Trophy. The match between the East Zone and North Zone ended in a draw.
The 23-year-old cricketer said that once the North Zone built a heavy first innings lead, it was tough for his side to make a comeback.
“Once we did not do that (bowling out North quickly in the first innings), they had the lead of around 200 runs and then their batters played really well and just took the game away from us,” he said.
(With PTI Inputs)