“Oh s**it, this happened” - Riyan Parag breaks silence on search history controversy ahead of IPL 2025 [Watch]
Team India all-rounder Riyan Parag recently opened up on his YouTube search history controversy. Following last year's Indian Premier League (IPL), the youngster's YouTube browsing history went viral after a few fans reportedly noticed "Ananya Pandey hot" and "Sara Ali Khan hot" in the search bar during a live session.
Parag broke his silence over the controversy during an interview with the radio station City1016. The 23-year-old revealed his reaction when his browsing history went viral and even suggested that the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) star said:
"I finished the IPL, we were in Chennai, finished the match, got on a Discord call with my streaming team, and it got publicised now, but it happened before the IPL. One of the people in my Discord team tried to set me up before the IPL, but that got taken down very quickly. But then after the IPL, the hype was there, and I had a good season."
"I came and opened my stream, I didn't have Spotify or Apple Music. Everything was deleted. So I went on YouTube to put on music, and I searched for music. But I didn't know what was happening, but once I did the stream ended, I was like Oh s**t! This happened. It just got blown out of proportion. I didn't think it was good enough a reason for me to go out publicly and clarify everything and no one would understand," he added.
Riyan Parag had a breakthrough IPL season last year. With 573 runs across 13 innings at an average of 52.09, he was Rajasthan's leading run-getter in the edition. He was rewarded for his impressive performances by the franchise, as they retained him for ₹14 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Riyan Parag returned to competitive cricket in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 after a shoulder injury
Riyan Parag returned to competitive cricket after recovering from his shoulder injury in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25, leading Assam in their final group-stage match. He registered scores of 51 and 0 in the match, while also picking up two wickets.
Riyan Parag's brilliant show in IPL 2024 had helped him earn his maiden India call-up, and he made his T20I debut during India's tour of Zimbabwe in July. The Assam-based cricketer also got his maiden ODI cap during the Men in Blue's away series against Sri Lanka in August 2024.
Before his return, he was last seen in action for India last year in October last year in the home T20I series against Bangladesh where sustained a shoulder injury that required surgery. He scored 49 runs in two innings in that series.