IPL 2024: Batting Beauty, Bond Beams as Parag Crushes Critics with Dream IPL Season
RR assistant coach Shane Bond is proud of Ryan Parag for having a fantastic season with the bat after being heavily criticized over the past few years. Parag continued his fine form in RR's 13th league game of the Indian Premier League 2024 as he top scored for his side with an innings of 48 (34) against PBKS on Wednesday, May 15. During his knock, the 22-year-old reached the 500-run mark in the season and fourth on the list of leading run-scorers of the current edition.
Parag has scored 531 runs with four fifties at an average of 59 and a strike rate of 152.58 in the 12 innings he has batted so far. Speaking about the dramatic turnaround in the youngster's career, Bond praised him for batting at number four and brushing aside all criticism with his performance. “Ryan has had a fantastic season, hasn't he. His promotion to number four really suits him. He has batted for many years in a position that was very tough in the order and people forget how young he is. It takes a while when you're young. Obviously seeing how well he has played in domestic cricket and especially in T20s this season,” Bond said in the post-match press conference.
"He's been rolling for us this season and just gives a quality, there's no doubt he's a quality player. I'm really excited for him and proud of the way he's played so far. I think the team is very excited about it. He has faced some criticism in terms of performances over the last few years and so to put that aside and come out the way he has played at number four this season, real credit goes to him for the work he has done," he added. .
Speaking further, the former New Zealand seamer said he is a fan of the controversial impact player rule as it puts the bowlers under pressure. Bond also made a big claim that the bowling has been below par this season and the bowlers need to adapt with the times.
“I like the rule, I like to see the sixes, I like to see the runs and I like to see the bowlers under pressure. The beauty of the game of cricket is that you have to adjust and you have to adapt. Batters have done the same since last year, the score has gone up. I love watching it and it still amazes me the quality of batting in cricket. The bowlers are not caught, they have to plan better, they have to think better and take better decisions,” added the RR assistant coach.
IPL 2024: Bond's quality of bowling has been low
"That's my job, I find it exciting and when you look at the Bumrahs of the world, he's still doing it. Regardless, that's what Shadab players do. The challenge for all bowlers in the competition is just to perform well. I "The general quality of bowling in the tournament seems to be a little low. But you would hope that it will improve at the backend and next year," he concluded.
Meanwhile, RR suffered their fourth straight defeat against Punjab during Match 65 of IPL 2024 as they lost the game by five wickets. After electing to bat first, Rajasthan rode on Ryan Parag's 48 (34) to score 144/9 in their allotted 20 overs. In reply, Punjab chased down the target in 18.5 overs and captain Sam Curran led home with an unbeaten knock of 63* (41).
After their loss, RR have retained the second spot on the points table with eight wins from 13 matches with 16 points to their name. The Sanju Samson-led side will face KKR in their last match on May 19 and will be desperate to win the game to have a better chance of finishing in the top two spots on the points table and two chances to reach the finals.