Four times in the Duleep Trophy he had made starts—-30, 31, 37, 20, in tune with his career of only three centuries in 54 outings—yet all four times he contrived to flounder, often due to impetuous stroke-play. (BCCI Domestic/X)
Riyan Parag was cursing near the boundary ropes. The merry stands had fallen abruptly silent. The fervent beating of the drums had stopped and the vocal cords of a few thousands had suddenly choked. All you could hear was the ecstatic shriek of medium pacer Gaurav Yadav; all you could see was the slunk head of Parag, who had just held out at long-off to a rare burst of adrenaline. When the moment of shock was over, they stood up to applaud his 73, an innings where he displayed his wares to prosper in red-ball cricket, one scripted with poise rather than aggression. Parag reciprocated with a wave of his willow, almost as an afterthought, before he resumed cursing his imprudence.
Four times in the Duleep Trophy he had made starts—-30, 31, 37, 20, in tune with his career of only three centuries in 54 outings—yet all four times he contrived to flounder, often due to impetuous stroke-play. In the first innings of the final round, against India C, he mustered only two off nine balls, looking out of depth on a surface with pace, bounce and carry. But he was determined to grit it out in his final innings of the campaign.
The situation he strode into was not as difficult as he had in the first innings. The third-day surface had lost much of its zippy pace, but yet to take turn. The bounce remained but the slowness meant he had ample time to assess the ball. When he walked out, soon after lunch on a day the sun was benign and not burning, even though the cloud cover abetted late swing. Here, in his last innings, he had to show he possessed the temperament to shine in the red-ball.
The range and sparkle of his strokes is well ascertained; he is well-versed with the new-age ramps and scoops, but he owns an organised defence too. He could bowl handy off-spin too in an era in Indian cricket batsmen who could bowl are a rare commodity. He remains as a consideration in the selectors’ mind—he had already debuted in ODIs and pocketed six T20I appearances too. A consistent run in first-class games could realise his burning dream of playing Test cricket.
One-handed STUNNER! 🔥
Ruturaj Gaikwad is on fire on the field. He’s pulled off yet another splendid catch, this time to dismiss Riyan Parag 👏#DuleepTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank
Follow the match ▶️: https://t.co/QkxvrUnnhz pic.twitter.com/6IcU3wwk2X
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) September 21, 2024
The test here, with the entire crew of selectors watching, was to illustrate his temperament to prosper in first-class cricket, in which he averages 36.15, a modest return for a frontline batsmen. His last domestic season was the best of his career, wherein he averaged 75.60 in six innings, but international careers are made out of form sustenance. At that same time, stifling his game could turn counterproductive, and instead strike the magic formula of being aggressive without being reckless.
For much of the innings, he managed to walk the tightrope. For the first 58 balls, he was just bent on smuggling singles, tipping, tapping and running, nudging and pushing the ball to the gaps. As many as 47 runs were hoarded through singles (21) and twos (13). Off the 101 balls he faced, there were only 32 scording shots. It wasn’t a case of him playing and missing either. It was a dimension of the game the IPL faithful are unused to.
The lone four in the phase was an outside edge off the 13th ball he faced, off Anshul Kamboj. The edge was a rare lapse too, as he willed to blunt the attack, resisting the temptation of Manav Suthar’s floaty invitations and foiling Kamboj’s outside the off-stump ruses. With vacant expanses on the leg-side, he nudged him to slog-sweep. But he just leant forward and blocked him to safety. Kamboj vacated the cover fielders and seduced him to drive. He politely refused the offer, often leaving the ball without a fuss.
Once bedded in, the late movement the seamers extracted dissipated and spinners winked by, he grew more adventurous. He swept the trickster Suthar with disdain. The ball dropped slower than he had anticipated but he suspended his stroke until the ripest second and heaved him with a crisp bat-swing. The industrious Vyshak Vijayakumar returned but he thundered him through cover, picking him through the line. But here, he controlled his impulses to unshackle and reverted to the single-gathering mode. A push to mid-off brought his 12th half-century in this format. His next four arrived after 17 balls, a full toss from Yadav that he clumped through mid-on.
The patience to wait for the loose was the hallmark of his innings, as opposed to attempting fanciful shots off good balls. Another test awaited him in the form of a reverse-swinging ball. He survived an lbw shout of Yadav’s nip-backer that swung late, at the stroke of tea. But he survived the phase, and with a composed Shashwat Rawat who compiled a fine half-century to go with his first-innings century, he took India A closer to 200.
And then knocked the moment Parag would rue. He had just short-arm pulled Yadav’s hard length ball through mid-wicket with a wild frenzy and crunched him through covers for another four in his next over. The next ball though, he stepped out, manufactured room and slapped him though cover with such raw power that he crowd had begun to jump off the seats. But from nowhere sprung the spidery arms of Ruturaj Gaikwad to end his march towards a hundred. It took both the crowd and Parag some time to process the moment. A hundred would have spiralled his reputation, but he showed he has the game to thrive in red-ball cricket. Now, he needs the numbers.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 21-09-2024 at 21:03 IST
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