Guwahati: For a moment the crowd at the Barsapara Stadium went into a complete lull after the local boy departed for a reckless shot that saw his off and middle stumps split up halfway apart after facing 11 deliveries for a single-digit score against Delhi Capitals.
Playing his 50th Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Riyan, the only Assamese player in the tournament, the crowd would have expected some fireworks from him as Rajasthan Royals promoted him in the batting order ahead of power hitters Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel, but in an anti-climax of sorts, the 22-year-old let yet another opportunity slip out of his hands.
Riyan walked into bat with Rajasthan in a commanding position after the opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal (60 off 31 balls) and top scorer Jos Buttler (79 off 51) had put up a 98-run stand in the first 9 overs, and lost skipper Sanju Samson for a duck. With almost 10 overs left in the innings, it was expected that the Assamese right-hander would grab the opportunity with both hands. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the case and he departed for a mere seven runs.
It was once again left to Hetmyer to provide the late flourish and the West Indian southpaw slammed four sixes to propel the Royals to 199/4 after 20 overs.
To put things in perspective, the Barsapara Cricket Stadium wicket has been a batting paradise, and has seen high-scoring affairs, with the first IPL game producing almost 400 runs, and so was the case in the second game. So the ‘demons in the pitch’ concept won’t work in Riyan’s defence.
In an interview with EastMojo on the eve of his 50th match, Riyan emphasised the opportunity he has got from the Pink Army for the past four seasons and continues to enjoy the backing, even though his numbers don’t make him a first choice in the Playing XI.
Riyan, who made his debut for the Rajasthan franchise in 2019, has so far managed 556 runs from 50 games at a forgettable average of 16.64, with 42 fours and 24 sixes.
“This is my 5th year in the IPL, and I’m excited to be playing my 50th match. For a kid from Assam, that just never happens. It’s a great opportunity for me to be able to sustain that and I’m grateful to the RR team management for backing me through every phase,” Riyan told EastMojo.
In contrast, he has had a prolific season in domestic cricket for Assam, slamming 64 sixes in 29 innings across the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Ranji Trophy in 2022-23.
“I have played a lot of cricket at home but playing in the IPL it’s a different ball game altogether. In domestic cricket, you know the guys you play against as you continuously play against them for seasons, but in IPL it’s not the case,” he quipped.
Sharing his experience of playing in front of a home crowd, he said, “(Naturally) there were jitters & I think those were good jitters. But when things settled down, it felt really good to play in front of my home crowd.”
Well, netizens also joined the chorus on social media slamming the Rajasthan Royals batter, with most questioning the team management’s call to retain him despite repeated failures over the seasons.
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As far as the match was concerned, it went Rajasthan Royals’ way as Delhi Capitals lost their way right in the opening over after Trent Boult rocked the side with wickets of opener Prithvi Shaw and Manish Pandey for ducks on successive deliveries, with the side yet to open its account.
With the asking rate mounting after each over, Delhi Capitals’ failed to maintain the tempo and barring skipper David Warner’s 55-ball 65 and Lalit Yadav’s 38, the rest of the batting failed to click as a unit, resulting in a 57-run loss, their third successive loss in the tournament.
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