Riyan Parag is the man of the moment. The Assam all-rounder has been in great run of form this domestic season and continued his impressive run in the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 match against Hyderabad. The right-handed batter scored a blistering half-century in the first-class match that seemed to have taken a leaf from the “Bazball” school of cricket.

The 21-year-old accumulated 78 runs off just 28 deliveries in this Elite Group B Contest at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday. His innings included 8 boundaries and 6 sixes and aiding the batter accumulate those many runs at a scarcely believable strike rate of 278.57.

Courtesy of his all-round show, Assam find themselves in a dominant position at Stumps on Day 2 as they are leading by 179 runs with Swarupam Purkayastha and Akash Sengupta out there in the middle and 4 wickets remaining in the kitty. However, there is still lot of time remaining in the match and Hyderabad can register a comeback if they manage to wrap up the Assam tail quickly.

All-round brilliance from the Rajasthan Royals star

While Assam had scored 208 in the first innings riding on Purkayastha’s 83, Hyderabad got a marginal 2-run lead, scoring 210 with Rohit Rayudu contributing 60 and Bhagath Varma chipping in with useful 46 lower down the order. In the second innings, Assam have ended Day 2 on 182/6.

T Ravi Teja (4/53) and Kartikeya Kak (3/43) were the stand out performers with the ball for Hyderabad in the first innings after which it was Assam’s Parag turn with the ball to shock Hyderabad as he scalped 4 wickets for 48 runs. Mukhtar Hussain also scalped 3 wickets.

Parag was retained by his Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals ahead of the mini-auction in Kochi on December 23 (Friday).