In the second round of the Duleep Trophy on Saturday, Riyan Parag, the top batsman for Team India, had yet another bad performance. In the second innings, Parag came with more gritted determination after his impressive first-inning start, when he scored 37 off just 29 balls, was not translated. When Parag came to bat, he had a sizable buffer in terms of the second-inning lead after India A had made a strong start with openers Mayank Agarwal (56), and Pratham Singh (122), who put in 115 runs for the first wicket and another 104-run stand for the second.

 

He raced to 20 off 30 deliveries with assured stroke play, including two spectacular sixes. Nevertheless, Parag made too many mistakes, as he erred when against Saurabh Kumar. When the ball struck the toe-end, Parag attempted to clear the long off boundary, but he was unable to strike the centre of the bat, and Aditya Thakare, the replacement, made a spectacular catch to finish his innings. Parag was clearly upset at being cut short after yet another opportunity to challenge for Test places was lost.
So far, Parag's experience in the Duleep Trophy has been disappointing. He had strong start in each of the first four innings but was unable to finish. In the opening round, the young Assamese player scored 30 and 31 runs in each of the two innings.


After finishing the Indian Premier League season as the fourth-highest run-getter, Parag was called up for the first time in July of this year. Though Parag did not have much success at the bat in his few appearances for the team against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, he was an impressive bowler, taking three wickets in his first fifty overs. When Team India plays Bangladesh in the first of two Test matches, on September 19, the team will be back in action. India will play three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) after the Tests, where Parag would probably make his comeback to international cricket.