Riyan Parag has taken the IPL 2024 by storm it seems. The young all-rounder from Assam, after a horrible run of form in the last few years,   has had a brilliant run. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy he scored half-centuries at will. In the IPL 2024 too, he has scored three fifties in the last four matches and is a great contender for the Orange Cap. On Wednesday too, Parag scored 76. It made the great Sunil Gavaskar say in the mid-innings break that the BCCI “have an eye on” Riyan Parag regarding the T20 World Cup.

In the last 15 T20 innings, Parag has scored 10 half-centuries at a strike-rate of over 170.

Rajasthan Royals director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara has an important message for Riyan Parag in the midst of all these talks about spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad.

The 22-year-old is second only to Virat Kohli in the leading run-getter’s list this IPL season having scored 261 runs, with a top score of 84 not out and a strike rate exceeding 158.

The hard hitter’s 76 off 48 balls went in vain as Gujarat Titans overhauled the imposing 196-run total off the last ball of the innings here on Wednesday to break the Royals’ four-match winning streak on Wednesday.

“I think his (Parag’s) potential is there for everyone to see. I think for Riyan it’s really about concentrating on Rajasthan and this season, and whatever happens (being considered for T20 World Cup) will happen after that,” said Sangakkara in response to a question about whether the Assam cricketer could be in line for an India berth for the World Cup later this year in the West Indies and the USA.

“I think you should never get too ahead of looking at things to find the future. As long as he keeps his head down, he is working hard, he is batting well, he is very organised, he’s worked hard in the off-season, he just needs to keep doing those good things and, if he does all that, good things will happen,” added the charismatic former Sri Lankan, one of the greatest batters with more than 12,000 Test and 14,000 ODI runs.

With PTI inputs