Riyan Parag reveals Virat Kohli's message which helped win Player of the Series award in Deodhar Trophy

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Riyan Parag bounced back to form with the Deodhar Trophy 2023 which saw him score the highest runs, hit most number of sixes and pick third-highest number of wickets to grab the Man of the Series award.

He scored a total of 354 runs including two hundreds in five innings at an average of 88.50. He fell just five runs short of his third hundred in the final which his side East Zone lost to champions West Zone led by Mayank Agarwal. The 21-year-old picked 11 wickets at an average of 19.09 and an economy rate of 4.84.

This comes after a forgettable IPL 2023 season where the right-hander from Assam could score only 78 runs in seven matches at an average of 13 and a strike rate of 118.18 for Rajasthan Royals (RR). The youngster was dropped from the eleven and trolled heavily on social media.

He did not get to bat in his first three outings at the Emerging Asia Cup for India A and when he got the chances in the semi-final and the final, he could score 12 and 14 runs respectively.

The youngster has revealed that the message from his role model, Virat Kohli helped him a lot during the period and motivated him to keep going. For those unaware, Parag is an ardent Virat Kohli fan and he often shows his love and respect for the former India captain with his social media posts.

“Mai puri baat nahi bata paunga (I cannot tell you the exact conversation). He told me 'something that has worked for half a year cannot be wrong after a few failures. What happens in the IPL is that the tournament goes on so fast that after failing in two games, you start to question yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and I have made tons of them. Two-three games don’t go your way and you feel (the need) to change your process and work ethic,” Parag, who has Kohli's picture as his WhastApp profile picture, said.

“It was him telling me that 'take the reality check and accept that this is a bad phase but it doesn’t mean that you need to change the process that has been working for you’,” he added.

Questions over the attitude of the cricketer have also been raised in the past. He was also criticised for his altercation with senior Harshal Patel during the IPL 2022. The flamboyant cricket has often been subject to online trolls on social media.

Reacting to the trolls and criticism, Parag said he would continue to be himself and not fall in line with the "rulebook" people want him to play with.

“People have a problem with me chewing gum. If my collar is up that’s a problem. I celebrate after taking a catch that’s a problem. They have a problem with me gaming and playing golf in my off time,” he said. “I have an idea why people hate me. There is a rulebook about how you should play cricket. The T-shirt should be tucked in, the collar should be down, give respect to everyone, don’t sledge anyone, and I am completely the opposite," he said.