Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed Rajasthan Royals (RR) youngster Riyan Parag for throwing away his wicket in the crucial IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 match against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday. Parag scored just six runs off 10 balls as he was dismissed by SRH's impact substitute Shahbaz Ahmed. Chasing 176, RR did not score a single boundary in 22 balls before the in-form decided to take on Shahbaz. However, Parag top-edged his shot that went straight up to Abhishek at deep mid-wicket.
Gavaskar, who was on commentary duties, was left fuming with Parag's approach as he suggested that the youngster's talent was of no use if he wasn't going to "think".
"Seriously, seriously? What's the use of all the talent if you are not going to think? What kind of shot is that, seriously? So much talent. If you don't have the temperament, it won't work. So what if you had a few dot balls? You can still make up for it," Gavaskar was heard as saying on commentary.
Parag's dismissal proved to be pivotal in the context of the match as SRH sparked an RR collapse, taking three wickets in the space of 15 balls.
The 2008 champions couldn't recover from the setbacks as SRH won by 36 runs to advance to the final. Shahbaz was the star of the show for SRH as he came in as an impact substitute to score 18 runs and then returned figures of 3-23.
He was named player of the match and SRH skipper Pat Cummins said it was coach Daniel Vettori's call to have the all-rounder come in as impact sub.
Earlier Sunrisers, who had racked up record IPL totals of 277 and 287 this season, lacked firepower in their batting until Heinrich Klaasen boosted the score with his fourth fifty of the season.
Rajasthan's Trent Boult made early inroads when he got Abhishek in the first over and struck twice in the fifth to send back Rahul Tripathi, for 37, and Aiden Markram, for one.
Fast bowler Avesh Khan took two wickets in two balls, prompting Hyderabad, who won the IPL in 2016 under Australia's David Warner, to bring in Ahmed.
(With AFP Inputs)