Cautionary tale for Riyan Parag: Aiming to challenge for Team India Test spot without going down the 'Shreyas Iyer' route

Parag showed promise with solid starts in both innings during the first round of the Duleep Trophy. Against India B, he scored 30 and 31 but fell short of converting them into big scores. His missed opportunity in Anantapur disappointed former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali, who expected more from the talented Indian youngster.

Taking to his official YouTube account, Basit warned Parag that the youngster is ruining a potential opportunity to present his contention for the longest format, and that he is too focused on white-ball cricket.

“He has a lot of talent, and he's such an effortless player. He hit that straight six today over mid-off, it was top-class. But he isn't justifying that talent. He has to play session by session. Just like (Shreyas) Iyer, he is also getting aggressive. I admit, you have to counter-attack, but once you succeed in that, you should focus on prolonging your innings,” Basit said.

The former Pakistan player further stated that Parag will be competing for places which will be vacated in the next “2-3 years.”

“These are the days where Riyan Parag needs to capitalise and score big. There's New Zealand series, then Australia series. Don't focus on white-ball matches. You've got the no.4. In the previous match, he played aggressive, too. Here, you had already scored 30-35 runs, you can't give your wicket like that. He has to take care of that. And the coaches need to talk to him, tell him this isn't the way,” said Basit.

“His competition is against some very big players. We all know who are they; they're going to retire in 2-3 years. He has to perform as much as he can.”

Riyan Parag made his Team India debut in July earlier this year during a T20I series against Zimbabwe. He was eventually selected in both, T20I and ODI squads for the tour of Sri Lanka. While he hasn't made a mark with the bat, Parag did produce solid performances as a bowler in the limited international outings.