Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Riyan Parag has come under criticism from former India opener Virender Sehwag following RR’s loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2026 on Saturday.
Under Riyan Parag‘s captaincy, Rajasthan Royals had begun their campaign with four straight wins, but have now lost three matches in their last four matches. Their only win during this period came against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on 22 April.
Virender Sehwag on Riyan Parag’s RR captaincy
“Rajasthan Royals need to think about Riyan Parag’s captaincy. The management has to think whether he is the right captain for them. You could have interviewed all 25 people, but that doesn’t serve any purpose,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
He also questioned why Parag decided to underutilise spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Ravindra Jadeja. Both of them bowled just one over. While Bishnoi conceded 16 runs, Jadeja went for 11 runs.
“Both Jadeja and Bishnoi bowled just one over. You should have given them one more over. If you give them just one over, who will take wickets? If Bishnoi and Jadeja bowled, they would have gone after the wickets,” asked the former Delhi cricketer.
Virender Sehwag also urged Riyan Parag to take more responsibility with the bat. The Guwahati-born cricketer has managed to score just 88 runs from 8 matches at a strike-rate of 112.82.
He said that Parag and RR cannot always rely on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to produce results with the bat.
“As a batter, if I’m the captain, and I am not scoring runs. My captaincy will be affected. I will keep thinking about my runs. I will keep thinking that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed a hundred off 36 balls, and I am a senior, so why am I not scoring runs? It does affect your batting as you keep thinking about yourself,” added the 47-year-old.
Riyan Parag, who had led RR in a few matches of IPL 2025, officially took over as the team’s permanent skipper ahead of the 2026 season. This was after RR’s former captain Sanju Samson completed a trade move to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Rajasthan Royals, who haven’t won the IPL since 2008, are currently in fourth place with 10 points from eight matches. They will next take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on Tuesday.
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