IPL 2026: ‘You don’t captain when you at-bat,’ says Sangakkara as he decodes roles of fit-again Parag

New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) In the high-stakes ecosystem of the Indian Premier League (IPL), managing young talent burdened with multi-faceted responsibilities is one of the toughest challenges for any modern coach.

Ahead of the Rajasthan Royals’ crucial game against the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Kumar Sangakkara, RR’s head coach and director of cricket, provided an expansive masterclass into how the franchise navigates the development of its young captain, Riyan Parag.

In a major boost for the inaugural champions as they look to solidify their playoff credentials, Sangakkara confirmed that the team expects Parag to be fully fit from a hamstring niggle and be ready to lead the side from the front.

Parag was back batting in the nets after a hamstring niggle ruled him out of RR’s last game against the Gujarat Titans, which they lost by 77 runs. Parag has averaged just 23, and his one good knock, ironically, came against DC, when he cracked 90 in Jaipur.

“We were expecting him to be fully fit and ready. I think Riyan has three roles. One is captain, leader, and batter. Every single time, he’s got to separate the three a little bit. Captaincy and leadership go a little bit more hand-in-hand, whereas batting, he just has to enjoy his batting as Riyan Parag, the batter.

“You saw in the Kings game and then in the game after that against DC how well he did in terms of his execution, his real short skill, and situational awareness. Those are three key things for a batter. Unfortunately, he had a little hamstring niggle after that game, so he couldn’t really continue that momentum. But every game is an opportunity for him to do that, and he’s one of our best batters by far.

“So I have no issues with his skill, and the conversation is all about just making sure that you are batting as Riyan Parag, the batter. You don’t captain when you bat. I thought his captaincy this season has been excellent – very, very good. He’s learning very quickly. He’s making some good, great decisions out there,” said Sangakkara in the pre-match press conference.

Stepping into RR’s captaincy brings intense scrutiny, but Sangakkara revealed that Parag has displayed an exceptionally mature appetite for self-improvement. “But also, he’s got a process for when plans are set, and how to follow them. He has a lot of time with the players and the bat group staff to try and get his plans right.

“Then, in his leadership role, he has spent quite a good time with the players, the overseas, the Indians, just talking to them, understanding them a little bit more. I think he’s been in those roles, and he’s been very, very good. So I think he just needs to keep believing in himself and go out there, and when he bats, just have some fun with a smile because everyone knows what he can do. Then do the other two roles as well as he’s been doing so far,” he added.

Sangakkara also described the team’s itinerary as ‘weird,’ characterised by a rapid succession of back-to-back games followed by twin eight-day breaks. “It’s not too difficult. Sometimes you do tend to think too far ahead. So we have these little conversations with the players about keeping their focus, taking it ball by ball. They’ve been pretty good.

“You can’t really shy away from the fact that you’ve got to keep winning each game, and that’s a good challenge for these guys. The real key is to be consistent in your standards. We’ve had really good days with both bat and ball. Some days with the ball, not so much with the bat, and that happens in T20 cricket.

“We’ve had a kind of weird schedule. We’ve had quick games one after the other, then an eight-day break, one game, another eight-day break. So sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s counterproductive.”

The primary antidote, as per Sangakkara, to be fresh in a staggered schedule is psychological freshness. “But the whole point is, once you know the schedule, just kind of keep your standards up. You practice really with purpose, you don’t have to overtrain, and then you just have to keep believing that we have the skills as a unit to really go out there and compete against and beat any side. The real proof of preparation is being able to execute properly in a game.

“Once you’re executing well, the result can go whichever way to the side that plays a little bit better and smarter in those big moments. So those big moments are what we’re trying to win and really set up games for us to take advantage of. The guys have been in a good space.

“They know when things go right, they know when things don’t go so well. So you don’t really have to beat them over the head with it. Just keep supporting them and just lead them down to kind of the right focus, and then it’s just skill versus skill after that.”

“Sometimes, during breaks, just over-training is a problem. So we are here to practice and just to play. So we will have different sessions, but a lot of these breaks have been about refocusing, refreshing, keeping those guys having fun and having them really love being together as a group, and then you train in the last three days.”

RR, suffering five defeats in their last seven outings, has sparked fears of them entering a chronic second-half wobble, a trend that proved fatal for the franchise in the last two seasons. RR once looked invincible after four successive wins, but now finds itself on a slippery slope and at fifth spot on the points table, with Sangakkara remaining pragmatic about the highs and lows of the league.

“I think we’ve had a few close games. We had a 224 game that was chased down. We had a few fielding mistakes in the SRH game. Then, we were not really disciplined in terms of execution in the DC game. I mean, I have no problems when teams have done as much as they can to execute well, give their best effort on the field, and then you walk out and say, ‘We got beaten by a better side.’

“I have no problems with that. So we’ve been a little off-colour in a couple of games. Then the opposition played really well, too. So that’s how the game goes. You’ve just got to pull one back and then try and get that fire in your belly, that mindset of winning. So every time you play, that’s another opportunity to do it.

“Every side goes through the IPL in the same way. Highs, lows, highs, lows, good starts, good middle overs, good ends, bad ends, bad middles – that’s the nature of the game. So you’ve got to keep focusing on the next game, just getting your training right, your focus right. You can’t change the past. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but all you can do is just be ready for it.”

–IANS

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