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Former India captain Virender Sehwag said that he is not impressed with the captaincy of Rajasthan Royals captain Ryan Parag in IPL 2026.
After losing to Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 on Friday, Parag has led RR to third place this year. GT will now play defending champions and table-topper Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL final on Sunday.
Parag was appointed the full-time captain of RR for this IPL season after taking charge in 8 out of 14 matches last year due to injury to regular captain Sanju Samson.
Samson was then transferred to Chennai Super Kings, with Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran coming from the “Yellow Army”.
Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2026
After the disappointment of finishing 9th in IPL 2025, RR managed to bounce back in IPL 2026. The team won each of its first four matches in the tournament before a temporary decline.
After a four-match winning streak, Riyan Parag’s team lost six of its eight matches. Parag could not play even two matches this year due to injuries.
With qualification on the line, RR pulled themselves together and won their last two matches to cement their place as the fourth team in the top four on the points table.
Like the rest of the season, RR relied on the individual brilliance of Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Jofra Archer in the playoffs. Suryavanshi scored 97 runs in just 29 balls and Archer took three wickets in the powerplay against SRH in the eliminator.
RR reached Qualifier 2, but this time it was a different challenge. Suryavanshi made 96 this time, but the support was minimal. However, Shubman Gill’s century sent RR home and took GT to their third final in just five years as a franchise.
‘He has no contribution as captain’-Sehwag
Virender Sehwag spoke to Cricbuzz and said that he did not think Parag was a particularly reactive captain. Sehwag said that RR’s success was based on some impressive individual contributions, but Parag never took any proactive decisions.
As a captain he has not impressed me much. If one of your individual players does something extraordinary, you win the match. But he had no contribution as captain. They did not play the right players in the middle order. If you are not reactive to bowling changes and field placements, it becomes difficult to make a comeback.
Virender Sehwag said, “I didn’t feel that Riyan Parag talked to any particular bowler or used anyone at the time when wickets could have been taken. I don’t think you can become a better captain just by playing tricks.”
Riyan Parag in IPL 2026
Despite playing important middle-order roles at No. 4 and 5 this year, Riyan Parag’s returns with the bat have been quiet.
His playing in the last few matches due to injury could be a reason. Riyan Parag has scored only 309 runs in 14 matches at an average of 23.76 and strike rate of 157. He also scored two half-centuries.
Also read: Ravichandran Ashwin unhappy with Rajasthan Royals over leaving Vaibhav Suryavanshi