Riyan Parag made history on Sunday, March 23, by becoming the youngest captain in Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Indian Premier League (IPL) history. At just 23 years and 133 days old, he led RR for the first time against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Parag was given the captaincy for this match and will continue to lead RR for the next two games as well, with regular skipper Sanju Samson still not fully fit. Samson is only fit enough to play as a specialist batter and will feature as an impact player, allowing Parag to take charge for the opening three matches.
Parag’s appointment places him among the youngest captains in IPL history. The youngest-ever captain in the tournament is Virat Kohli, who took over the leadership of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at 22 years and 187 days old in 2011.
Steve Smith and Suresh Raina are the second and third youngest, captaining their respective teams at ages 22 years 344 days and 23 years 112 days. Parag, at 23 years 133 days, is now the fourth youngest to captain an IPL team, just ahead of Shreyas Iyer, who was 23 years 142 days old when he captained Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2018.
At the toss, Parag won his first-ever IPL toss as captain and chose to bowl first, citing the dry nature of the pitch. Reflecting on his leadership role, Parag expressed his excitement, stating, “It means a lot to captain RR. I started here as a 17-year-old. Getting to fill in big shoes, very excited.”
He also acknowledged the impact rule, which allowed Samson to remain involved in the team despite his injury, and highlighted the advantage of retaining key players to solidify the team’s batting lineup.
Riyan Parag had a stellar season last year when he finally repaid the franchise’s faith with 573 runs and was the third-highest run-scorer the previous year.
