Riyan Parag led a lone battle for the Rajasthan Royals against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL encounter at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. The stand-in skipper led from front and smashed 95 off 45 balls, featuring six 4s and eight 6s. Despite his effort, Rajasthan fell short by one run in the 207-chase as the Knight Riders remain alive in the playoffs battle.
Parag and Shimron Hetmyer combined to help Rajasthan recover from a precarious 71/5 and added 92 off 48 for the sixth wicket, which is the highest stand for the sixth wicket or lower for the franchise in IPL. The effort saw the duo overtake Steve Smith and James Faulkner' 85-run partnership against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy in 2014.
It was during this, Parag went berserk against Moeen Ali, accumulating 32 runs in the 13th over bowled by the KKR spinner. The over started with Hetmyer passing the strike to Parag after facing the first ball. The RR skipper slogged Moeen for five sixes in a row, which also saw the bowler bowl a wide in between. Most of Parag's maximum were on the leg side barring from the last one, which was struck over long-off.
The effort saw Parag match the likes of Chris Gayle, Rahul Tewatia, Ravindra Jadeja and Rinku Singh, who had achieved the same in the previous seasons.
Hitting 5 sixes in an over in IPL
Chris Gayle vs Rahul Sharma, 2012 Rahul Tewatia vs S Cotterell, 2020 Ravindra Jadeja vs Harshal Patel, 2021 Rinku Singh vs Yash Dayal, 2023 Riyan Parag vs Moeen Ali, 2025*
The carnage by Parag continued in the next over bowled by mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who was clobbered for a maximum over deep backward point by employing the reverse sweep. The shot saw Parag become the first batter to smash six 6s in a row in the IPL.
By the time Parag was dismissed RR were back in the hunt before falling short by the barest of margin. Parag's knock saw him gather 37 runs (five 4s, two 6s) off 19 balls against the pacers, and 58 (one 4, six 6s) off 26 balls against spin.
'Miscalculation from my side'
Parag's terrific knock was also applauded by the opposition but the batter expressed anguish for failing to guide his team home.
"I was planning to stay till the last 2 overs, but unfortunately I got out in the 18th over. It was a miscalculation from my side," said Parag in the post-match presentation ceremony.
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