Jaipur: Riyan Parag might have missed the LSG match due to a recurring hamstring injury, but the Rajasthan Royals skipper was delighted to see his team registering a much-needed victory, thanks mainly to a spectacular 38-ball 93 from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.Parag was all praise for the 15-year-old Sooryavanshi, who pummeled 10 sixes and seven boundaries to power RR to a seven-wicket win over already-ousted LSG, helping RR move up to the fourth spot in the leaderboard.“I think this is his best innings,” Parag said.“He was initially at 5 off 10 balls. There are always two ways a batsman can go about such a situation. One is to take it upon oneself and let one’s ego take over and say why am I not able to hit this, or why am I not recovering from this situation? And then he just blindly slogs it. But it was really fun to see Vaibhav take his time,” Parag said during the post-match press conference here Tuesday.Showing maturity like a seasoned pro, Sooryavanshi waited for the right moment to launch an attack.“He played that first big shot off Mayank Yadav over covers, which really gave me a sense of satisfaction and understanding that, okay, he is young, but he still has a larger understanding of the game! What he did was commendable, and I feel that it was his best innings in the last two years,” added Parag.The seventh win of the season ended RR’s poor haul of runs at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, where the team had lost three earlier home matches quite narrowly.Reflecting on the morale-boosting win, Riyan said the team had finally managed to put together a comprehensive performance after displaying flashes of quality in previous games.“I think a win was due to come. I feel we played good cricket, but we didn’t play complete cricket. We played good cricket only in bits and pieces of the whole 40 overs. The way we played today, however, the way we chased, especially, was really commendable. There are a few more things we can do better with the ball and with the field,” said Parag.The Royals face the Mumbai Indians in their last league outing at the Wankhede Stadium Sunday and need to win the match to seal their playoff berth.Although happy with the win, Parag stressed the need for improvement in bowling and game awareness despite the emphatic 221-run chase.“I think the preparation for the future will be simple. I have spoken to the bowlers. There were some situations where we could have played better. I understand we chased 220-230 runs. We batted well, but I think we could have stopped them at least 20 to 25 runs shorter if we had been a little smarter at putting the ball. I think our preparation for the future will focus on how we can develop over the tournament and how we can finish with batting faster,” he added.LSG coach Langer too hails Vaibhav SooryavanshiLSG head coach Justin Langer was another one to laud Sooryavanshi for his “breathtaking” batting and his destructive innings.“He was brilliant. I mean, we’ve seen it all season. He’s the leading run-scorer. I’ve seen some amazing players in my time over 35 years of cricket. To see a young man bat like that, not just tonight but throughout the series, is breathtaking. He’s already in the India A squad and he has a massive future, to say the least,” the former Australian coach said at the end of the match.
