Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals (RR) star Riyan Parag revealed that he took a lot of criticism “to heart” after a poor start to his professional career as he only managed to amass 600 runs from 54 matches in previous seasons.
Social media trolling and meme culture have taken a toll on players in the past and Parag was no stranger to it as he, too, was trolled on the internet due to his poor performances in the previous IPL seasons.
The 22-year-old is now the second-highest run-scorer of IPL 2024 with 284 runs to his name, only behind Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Virat Kohli who has amassed 361 runs in seven innings so far.
Talking ahead of the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KRR), Parag admitted that life outside cricket has an effect on you and he has dealt with it.
"Life on the outside of cricket really affects you. And that's one big major part which has played in my career is how I deal with it," Parag said.
"It didn't really start out well, I took a lot of things to heart, that were being said about me, etc, whatever it was. I just had to figure out what mattered to me, whose opinions mattered to me, and I figured that out eventually and that has helped."
The 22-year-old is proving his prowess in the IPL 2024 and just like every Indian performer, his name has also started to circulate for the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup. However, the youngster is only thinking about IPL.
"I am not really thinking about it (World Cup) to be very honest. If you told me last year I'd be in this position, I would not believe you," Riyan said.
"So, I'm just really glad to be doing what I am doing, and I just want to continue that. I want to take it one game at a time, and focus on how I can win more matches for the team because that's more important.”
