Riyan Parag’s father places India cap on son’s head, nearly tears up in historic moment for Assam in IND vs ZIM 1st T20I

Emotions have been running high in Indian cricket ever since they won the T20 World Cup, beating South Africa in the final last week. Their new journey in this format with a young side in Zimbabwe began on a similar note. However, the reasons for the emotions were very different this time around. Riyan Parag was at the centre of that.

Parag was among the three cricketers – Abhishek Sharma and Dhruv Jurel being the others – to make their debut for India on Saturday. It was a landmark moment for Parag as he became the first male cricketer from Assam to represent India at the highest level. The occasion was made even more special as the 22-year-old received the India cap from his father, Parag Das.

It was a lovely gesture from the Indian team management to give Parag Das the honour of presenting the India cap to his son. Parag Das was a professional cricketer himself, having represented Assam in 43 first-class matches and 32 List A games.

VVS Laxman, India’s head coach for this series, handed the Indian cap to Parag Das and asked him to present it to his son. Instead of handing it over, Das placed the cap on his son’s head, shook his hands and hugged him. An emotional Das nearly teared up after that. Riyan then moved towards his mother and embraced her.

Riyan Parag handed India cap by father in emotional moment before India vs Zimbabwe 1st T20I

Riyan Parag earned his maiden India call-up on the back of terrific IPL 2024, scoring 573 runs for Rajasthan Royals in 15 matches at an average of 52 scored at a strike rate of 149.22.

In a video shared by BCCI earlier, Riyan Parag said that he had a childhood dream of travelling like this (with the national side).

“The feel of donning India jersey, travelling with the side is different. Coming from Assam, I had this dream of playing for India. Really happy. There will be a special connection for Zimbabwe when I play my first match.

“That will be a special moment for that ground and myself, which would be very sacred,” he said.

His dream finally came true at the Harare Sports Club on July 6 (Saturday). He is slotted to bat at No.4 for the Indian side that features a bunch of new faces as the majority of the World Cup-winning cricketers were given a break from this five-match T20I series.

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India’s captain for this series, Shubman Gill had no hesitation in opting to field first on a pitch that appeared to be a pretty good on for batting. Gill said the pitch is unlikely to change much and hence, they would like to chase.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube, who were part of the Indian squad in the T20 World Cup, will join the team for the last three games. Teams

India XI: Shubman Gill (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed.

Zimbabwe XI: Sikandar Raza (c), Tadiwanashe Marumani, Innocent Kaia, Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Johnathan Campbell, Clive Madande (wk), Wessly Madhevere, Luke Jongwe, Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara.