‘Stay off social media’: Riyan Parag’s advice to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Rajasthan Royals usher in a new era with Riyan Parag as captain and Kumar Sangakkara as coach, aiming to rebound from a dismal last season. Parag acknowledges the void left by former captain Sanju Samson, emphasising the difficulty of replacing such a player. He also urged young prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to play freely, free from social media pressure.
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Royals team is in the throes of transition, with the long-time captain-coach combine of Sanju Samson and Rahul Dravid now gone for good, replaced by the young new skipper Riyan Parag and head coach Kumar Sangakkara. Uncertain times lie ahead but the franchise is hoping the drastic change will reverse its fortunes. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
SUBSCRIBE NOW! Having already seen several ups and downs in his short career, Riyan has matured enough to acknowledge the huge contribution of his predecessor Samson, who was traded to CSK prior to the season. Riyan, 24, the youngest captain in IPL-2026, admitted that he would be personally missing his “Sanju bhaiya” and his exit has created a big void that cannot be easily filled.
Addressing the media in a pre-season press conference here on Thursday, Riyan compared the departure of Samson with ‘RoKo’. “If you talk about Sanju Bhaiya, we never think about replacing the kind of player he is. We can perhaps look for someone with a similar skill-set or have someone bat in his position.
It’s like there is no replacement for Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. In the same way, there is no replacement for Sanju bhaiya because he is such a good player,” said Riyan. ‘Stay off social media’ The newly-appointed RR captain wants batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to enjoy his game without being burdened by “additional pressure”.