Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag was in London last week to watch West Ham hold Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium. On the face of it, an IPL captain attending a Premier League match is nothing but a holiday. But Parag wasn’t there just to watch football. He was there to learn.
It was perhaps an odd choice for the game. West Ham are in the middle of a relegation battle, clinging to straws with just 29 points from 30 games, with every game now carrying the weight of consequences. When City took the lead through Bernardo Silva’s chip, the 60,000 Hammers fans did not back down.
Read the full article
Four minutes later Bowen raced over in the corner, a moment of chaos followed in the box and Mavropanos headed home.
West Ham picked up a point against one of Europe’s most decorated teams and refused to give up until the last minute in a resilient defence. The draw not only helped them slip up a point against a rampaging City side, but more importantly kept them alive in the Premier League, their struggle extended for at least another week.
The stadium, by Parago’s own account, was deafening from start to finish, riding on every tackle and clearance, demanding effort and fueling it in equal measure. And while watching from the stands, something clicked.
PARIS WEST PARALLEL HAM
During his trip to London, the newly appointed Rajasthan Royals captain sat down with West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen. The conversation went somewhere that most pre-arranged conversations don’t, it veered away from rehearsed answers to something more honest, harder to articulate. Riyan Parag at the London Stadium. (Image: Premier League)
The Indian batsman, who is an ardent follower of the Premier League, asked him the question he had actually come to ask: how do you keep the dressing room alive when the season is over? How do you get players to care when the scoreboard has moved on without them?
Parag knew what it was like to watch a season slip through his fingers. Rajasthan’s stand-in captain last season, Parag endured a tough campaign where his team lost close matches on numerous occasions and often found ways to fall behind when it mattered.
And in the IPL, when you lose a stretch of games, it’s hard to come back, it’s even harder to keep the belief from slipping away quietly.
“We were ninth last year,” Parag said. “How do you motivate your players to go out and perform every time, knowing you’re not going to win a trophy, knowing you’re not going to qualify, but still go out there and put on a show for everyone who paid their hard-earned money?”
Bowen clearly had the answers, Parag revealed in a select media interaction organized by the English Premier League.
“The way he handled himself, the way he communicated his messages and motivation to his team without sounding arrogant, without hitting the wrong path, that’s something I can learn from,” Parag said. “I’m really glad to have had those conversations. If we’re ever in a similar situation in the IPL, this year, next year, whenever, it’s going to be really helpful.”
It’s one thing to ask these questions in a room. It’s another thing to step out and watch the team live out those principles in real time.
FRANCHISE STILL WAITING
To understand why it resonated so deeply, you have to understand what Parag is getting at.
Rajasthan Royals won the very first IPL title in 2008. The supposed underdog team, led by the late great Shane Warne, beat the Chennai Super Kings in what remains one of the biggest underdog stories in the history of the tournament. Nobody saw that coming. That was more the point.
Eighteen years on, several superstars later, they’re still chasing that feeling, still looking for a season where everything aligns the way it once did.
In the last decade, the hopes of the franchise have been carried by a young Sanju Samson, who has become the face of the club in seasons that promised much and delivered little, often bearing the weight of expectations through inconsistency. But Samson has now moved on and with him an era.
The baton has been passed to Parago, who has been with the club since 2019, and has been promoted to a position where much is expected of him not only as a player, but also as the one who is expected to steer the franchise into a new phase. It’s a loaded legacy.
TWO CLUBS, ONE STORY
West Ham is a club with a similarly complicated relationship with its own history. A cult following, never champion of England, yet a consistent producer of world class talent. Frank Lampard, Declan Rice and Michael Carrick passed through East London. The pedigree is real, but the trophy cabinet tells a different story.
This season they find themselves staring down the Championship, with relegation a real possibility, every game now a lead that goes beyond points. Parag saw something of Rajasthan in all this.
“I didn’t see a single fan fanboying Haaland or Doku or Foden,” he said. “Everyone wanted West Ham to win. For a young captain about to lead a franchise still looking for its second title, that kind of unconditional support was something to sit with, something that lingers long after the final whistle.
LESSONS HE TAKES HOME
The trip to England means that, behind Bowen, Parag has also come away with two more reference points for the upcoming season, small but significant pieces in shaping the type of leader he wants to become.
For the way he has remained consistent at Manchester United through managerial changes and a tough campaign, Bruno Fernandes continues to demand standards regardless of the circumstances. And Haaland for the ruthless efficiency he brings every time a chance presents itself, the ability to reduce the chaos of the game to moments that can be decided in an instant. “These three attributes,” said Parag, “will help me in my season this year.” Riyan Parag in conversation with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen. (Image: Premier League)
The broader point is simple. Parag did not go to London as a tourist, but as a student of leadership, willing to keep his eyes and ears open, willing to learn what was presented to him.
He watched the relegation-threatened side hold their nerve against the best. He sat with a captain who held things together and anchored a season that could have easily slipped away.
As Rajasthan’s title chase begins, Parag hopes that, like Bowen and West Ham, he can provide a glimmer of hope where none expect it, and more importantly, that his lessons will matter when they are most tested.
– The end
Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
18 Mar 2026 04:00 IST
