‘Keep poking him and let me hit him’: Riyan Parag on how Sanju Samson controls him

After Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 20 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, batsman Riyan Parag said that he developed the game while playing with captain Sanju Samson Got some shooting opportunities. Parag had a blitzkrieg performance, scoring 43 points off 29 balls with a strike rate of 148.28. He hit 1 four and 3 sixes at the crease. Parag revealed that Samson told him not to attempt any risky shots as the conditions were “tougher”.

“While batting with Sanju bhaiya today, I had taken a few shots and I kept trying to poke him by asking ‘Sanju bhaiya, let me hit one’ and he said ‘No, no, today’s wicket and Not that easy’ even though we’ve been training here, it was a little tough today and the ball stayed low, so he said ‘no, no, not now,'” Parag said.

He added that if Samson wasn’t there, he would have tried to take risky shots. The 22-year-old admitted that he almost got run out against Krunal Pandya on the first ball.

“If I didn’t have him there, I would have tried to play that ball and it may or may not have happened, but then the risk factor goes down and you extend your innings and put your team in a better position. Even if I get the first ball very close against Krunal, I will be fine because I did everything right and now it’s just the result. If it happens, it will Happens and if it doesn’t happen I’ll come back again tomorrow,” he added.

After the game started, RR chose to bat first. Openers Jos Buttler (11) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (24 off 12 balls, including 3 fours and 1 six) departed It did not have much impact, reducing the team’s record to 49/2. Thereafter, Riyan put on a 93-run partnership with captain Sanju, who scored 82* off 52 balls with 3 fours and 6 sixes. Dhruv Jurel (20* off 12 balls, including 4 and 6) did the job admirably to lift RR to 193/4 in 20 overs.

Chasing 194 points, LSG’s winning percentage dropped to 11/3. Then Deepak Hooda (26 off 13 balls, including two fours and two sixes) stabilized the innings along with KL. After Hooda’s dismissal, LSG posted a record of 60/4, with KL scoring 85 runs with Nicholas Pooran (64 off 41 balls with 4 boundaries and 4 sixes). But victory did not mean anything for LSG as RR staged a comeback with timely wickets to reduce LSG’s record to 173/6 in 20 overs.

Trent Boult (2/35) is the pick of the bowlers for RR. Sandeep, Ashwin, Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took one wicket each. Samson was awarded the Man of the Match award for his half-century.

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