Riyan Parag loses cool in RR vs DC loss: We shouldn't be fighting for playoffs

Rajasthan Royals damaged their chances of making the playoffs in the Indian Premier League after losing to Delhi Capitals on Sunday, May 17. Many errors on the field cost Rajasthan the match which hung in the balance around the 16th over of the second innings.

Captain Riyan Parag lost his cool on the field after the team got into a bad position. The RR captain remained visibly frustrated during the post-match interview as well, letting down the side’s overall effort.

DC vs RR: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD

Describing Rajasthan’s display as “extremely poor”, Parag said the team did not deserve to challenge for a top-four finish if they continued to perform like this.

“Very poor. I feel if you want to win the trophy you have to be better than we were today. Extremely disappointed. We are a much better team than we have shown in the last four or five games. If we keep playing like this, we shouldn’t be fighting for the top four,” said Riyan Parag.

Rajasthan Royals started brightly on Sunday, cruising at 160/2 after 14 overs. However, things quickly fell apart after Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi, Axar Patel and Madhav Tiwari pulled off a superb performance for Delhi Capitals.

RR then struggled badly in the closing stages of the innings and collapsed dramatically after being in complete control at the start of the game.

SANGAKKARA GET ANGRY AT RIYAN PARAG

Delhi Capitals looked comfortable in the chase as Abishek Porel and KL Rahul added 100 runs in just 10 overs. This was due to a terrible mistake in the very first over of the second innings when Yash Raj Punja dropped KL Rahul at cover.

However, Rajasthan fought back strongly with early discoveries and stayed alive in the contest till the 16th over.

The game eventually petered out due to poor fielding and head coach Kumar Sangakkara was visibly furious at the kicker. Parago’s decision to pass the ball to Donovan Ferreira in the 18th crossing also failed.

Ferreira conceded 16 runs against Axar Patel and the momentum definitely shifted towards Delhi.

“We were in a pretty good space after 14 overs. After I got out, we didn’t capitalize. We weren’t there bowling. We didn’t execute.”

“Ferreira was not a gamble. It looks like a gamble on TV but it wasn’t. With two left-handed batsmen in the middle, I was trying to bowl him instead of Shanaka,” explained Parag after the match.

Former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif was also not happy with the team’s fielding efforts.

“It’s painful to watch the build-up in this IPL. Today Yash Raj dropped KL when they were down. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made too many mistakes. The young lad has not caught this season. He has to be sharper on the field when he plays for India. It’s the duty of coaches to teach young fielding skills,” Kaif vented on X.

Rajasthan have two more league matches left and can finish with a maximum of 16 points. However, qualifying could come down to pure run rate, where RR currently trails the other top five teams with an NRR of +0.027.

They will face Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians in their last two matches of the league stage.

– The end

Issued by:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published on:

18 May 2026 0:44 IST