Follow UsRiyan Parag batted the entirety of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) at No.4 after spending years batting down the order, and the move to promote him proved to be a masterstroke, with the youngster having an extraordinary season, scoring 573 runs at an average of 52.09.
The expectation heading into IPL 2025 was that Parag would be a lock at No.4, but the 23-year-old has started the season at No.3. However, Parag has not quite managed to get going at his new spot, registering scores of 4 & 25.
So why have RR decided to fix something that was not broken by promoting Parag?
"Look, Riyan is one of our best batters, let's be honest. And we want to give him as many balls as we possibly can,” Dravid said ahead of the CSK clash, reported ESPNCricinfo.
“Twenty overs is a very short time and the more balls Riyan Parag bats for us, the better it is for us as a team."
However, the RR head coach did not rule out the possibility of Parag moving back down the order to his favourite No.4 spot. Thus far, Nitish Rana has batted at No.4 for Rana but he’s had a torrid time in the middle, registering scores of 11 & 8.
"But of course, these things we'll keep looking at, we'll keep assessing, we'll keep seeing how it goes. And yeah, we know that Riyan has done really well at No. 4, so it gives us an option,” Dravid said.
"But honestly, the move to No. 3 was a positive move to try and give him more time to bat. And we know how destructive a player he is and if he gets more time, then he can score more runs and that can benefit the team. So that was the thinking, but we can always assess that and we can always see how it's going. And I think he's quite comfortable, he's more than capable of batting at any position."
RR have begun the season with two losses. They have, in fact, lost 8 of their last 9 IPL matches dating back to the previous season. They will hope to open their account against CSK in Guwahati on March 30 (Sunday).