Riyan Parag Drops Bombshell: "Don't Even Want to Watch the T20 World Cup"

 'Don't even want to watch the T20 World Cup': Riyan Parag's surprising 'biased' remark

Rajasthan Royals star Riyan Parag made a bold statement saying he has no interest in watching the T20 World Cup this year.

Despite worries about low attendance at the venues, the ninth T20 World Cup started on Sunday with both host countries winning convincingly. The USA beat Canada by seven wickets, thanks to a great performance from Aaron Jones at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. West Indies narrowly won on a difficult pitch in Guyana against Papua New Guinea. India will start their campaign on June 5 against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Riyan Parag makes a surprising statement on the 2024 T20 World Cup

Rising star Riyan Parag, who was considered for a spot in India's T20 World Cup squad after a great IPL season with Rajasthan Royals in 2024, was asked to pick his semifinalists for the ICC tournament on Sunday. However, he refused to answer, admitting he has no interest in watching the T20 World Cup and would only care about the top four if he were part of the squad.

"It will be a biased answer"

"It will be a biased answer (prediction on top four teams) but to be honest I don't even want to watch the World Cup. I'll just see who wins it at the end and I'll be happy. When I play in the World Cup, I'll think about the top four and all of that," Parag said in a chat with The Bharat Army.

The 22-year-old had a fantastic IPL season, scoring 573 runs at an average of 52.09 and a strike-rate of 149.21. He is confident he will join the Indian team soon.

"At some point, you'll have to take me, right? So that is my belief, I'm going to play for India," Parag told PTI. "I don't really care when. Even when I wasn't scoring runs - I said this in an earlier interview too - I am going to play for India."

"That is me believing in myself. That is not me being arrogant. That was my plan with my dad (former Railways and Assam player Parag Das) when I started playing cricket at around 10 years old. We were going to play for India no matter what."

India will travel to Zimbabwe after the T20 World Cup. With most regular players likely to rest from the format, the selectors are expected to send a young squad, and Parag could be among them.