{"id":9248,"date":"2026-04-05T10:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T10:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/?p=9248"},"modified":"2026-04-05T10:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T10:03:51","slug":"130037043-cms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/?p=9248","title":{"rendered":"The &#8216;difficult call&#8217; Riyan Parag took &#8211; and how it paid off for Rajasthan Royals | Cricket News &#8211; The Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130037048,imgsize-64598,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/rr-win-0504-sd.jpg\" alt=\"The 'difficult call' Riyan Parag took - and how it paid off for Rajasthan Royals\" title=\"Image credit: BCCI\/IPL\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: With 11 needed off the final over, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/riyan-parag\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Riyan Parag<\/a> took a gamble against Gujarat Titans. Despite having one over left from Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, and even two overs from Ravindra Jadeja, Parag turned to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/tushar-deshpande\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Tushar Deshpande<\/a> &#8211; and the move paid off. The bowler delivered under pressure as <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/rajasthan-royals\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Rajasthan Royals<\/a> cruised to their second successive win, defeating the Shubman Gill-led side by six runs in a thriller at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan believes the bold calls at the death will significantly boost Parag\u2019s confidence as a leader.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>Parag first entrusted <!-- -->Jofra Archer<!-- --> with the 19th over before handing the final one to Deshpande.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"14\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>&#8220;This was the best game of the season so far. It was very important for Rajasthan that Riyan Parag commands that respect while leading the side,&#8221; Pathan said on JioStar.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>&#8220;He made that difficult call in the last over, and that decision went in favour of Rajasthan, which will give him a lot of confidence as a leader. <!-- -->He went to Jofra Archer to bowl that 19th over, and generally, you go with your more experienced bowler in the penultimate over.&#8221;<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"25\"\/>Archer justified the move with a superb over, conceding just four runs and tightening the screws on Gujarat\u2019s chase. Deshpande then held his nerve to defend 10 runs in the final over as Rajasthan Royals edged past Gujarat Titans by six runs.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"27\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"wLCOS vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"ap_Bf\">\n<div class=\"ZM4zO\">\n<p><i class=\"bo2C4\"\/> <span>Watch<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <!-- -->\u2018Bowlers have it hard\u2019 \u2013 Glenn Phillips breaks down modern T20 cricket<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/>&#8220;Jofra used his experience, used his pace, and didn\u2019t give any room to either Rabada or Rashid Khan, who were going strong. That over set it up nicely for Tushar Deshpande, because if GT had gotten 10 runs off it, the game would have been done then. It was a special over from Jofra.&#8221;<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"33\"\/>&#8220;And credit to Tushar Deshpande, who held his nerve and bowled accurate yorkers, one after the other, to get his side home,&#8221; Pathan added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"35\"\/>Rajasthan Royals will next take on five-time champions <!-- -->Mumbai Indians<!-- --> at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"39\"\/><\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/top-stories\/the-difficult-call-riyan-parag-took-and-how-it-paid-off-for-rajasthan-royals\/articleshow\/130037043.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW DELHI: With 11 needed off the final over, Riyan Parag took a gamble against&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19885,4412,3978,4955,3167,17374,22853],"class_list":["post-9248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gujarat-titans","tag-ipl-2026","tag-jofra-archer","tag-mumbai-indians","tag-rajasthan-royals","tag-riyan-parag","tag-tushar-deshpande"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}