'Ba**s of steel': Ravi Shastri’s explosive verdict on Riyan Parag’s captaincy

Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag recovered himself astatine the centre of a gripping IPL 2026 contest, arsenic a bold late-game determination helped his broadside borderline past Gujarat Titans by six runs successful Ahmedabad. The telephone not lone proved decisive but besides earned admiration from erstwhile India manager Ravi Shastri.Defending a sizeable 211 astatine the Narendra Modi Stadium, Rajasthan appeared to beryllium cruising for ample parts of the chase. That changed rapidly erstwhile Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada launched a fierce counterattack, scoring astatine astir a 200 onslaught complaint to resistance Gujarat backmost into contention. With momentum shifting, the equation came down to 15 required from the last 12 balls.

At that captious stage, Parag opted to backmost

Jofra Archer

for the penultimate over. The determination paid disconnected instantly. Archer stuck to hard lengths and utilized his gait effectively, giving the batters nary country to escaped their arms. The implicit yielded conscionable 4 runs, with

Rashid

and Rabada constricted to singles and nary bound conceded, tightening the equation to 11 disconnected the last over.For the decisive last over, Parag showed further spot successful his resources by handing the shot to

Tushar Deshpande

up of much experienced options similar Nandre Burger and Sandeep Sharma. Deshpande justified that religion with a composed show nether pressure. Consistently nailing his yorkers, helium conceded conscionable 5 runs and dismissed Rashid, sealing a melodramatic triumph for the Royals successful what had concisely looked similar a slipping contest.

Shastri was speedy to item some the prime of the crippled and Parag’s composure, sharing his absorption connected Instagram.“Easily 1 of the champion games successful IPL history. Archive this one! Riyan Parag you person got ba**s of alloy and a large aboriginal ahead, particularly successful a enactment role. Outstanding temperament. Well played!”

Parag aboriginal revealed that the telephone to springiness Archer the 19th implicit was influenced by Dhruv Jurel, who had earlier played a important manus with the bat.“I was really going to power the order, but recognition to Jurel - helium asked maine to spell with Jofra for the 19th,” helium said, underlining however that timely proposition shaped the result of the match.