‘Pehle Deshbhakt Bano’- Sreesanth Takes Sly Dig At Riyan Parag Over His ‘I Won’t Watch World Cup’ Statement

Former India cricketer Sreesanth took a sly dig at young batter Riyan Parag after his old statement of not watching the T20 World Cup after he wasn’t selected went viral after Team India became two-time champions.

India defeated South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 on June 29 in Barbados. Virat Kohli shined with the bat with 76 and Axar Patel made 47 runs as India posted 176/6 in 20 overs,

South Africa had the game in their hands with Heinrich Klaasen and Quinton de Kock going strong. But then Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, and Jasprit Bumrah defended 26 runs in the last 28 balls as South Africa fell 7 runs short in the end.

Meanwhile, before the Indian team began their T20 World Cup campaign, a lot was said about the selection of the 15-member squad. Multiple IPL stars were included in the main squad and some in the reserves as well.

However, Riyan Parag, who was amongst the top 3 run-getters in IPL 2024, was ignored for the ICC event. When asked in an interview about his picks for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, Parag admitted that since he wasn’t picked for the Indian team, he doesn’t have any interest in watching the tournament.

“It will be a biased answer (prediction on top four teams) but to be very honest I don’t even want to watch the World Cup. I’ll just see who is winning it at the end and I’ll be happy. When I will play the World Cup, I will think about top four and all of that,” Parag said in a chat with The Bharat Army.

“At some point, you’ll have to take me, right? So that is my belief, I’m going to play for India. I don’t really care when. [Even] when I was not scoring runs – I said this in an [earlier] interview as well that I am going to play for India,” he added.

Sreesanth takes a veiled dig at Riyan Parag after India won the T20 World Cup 2024

Meanwhile, India went on to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, their first ICC trophy since 2013 and their second T20 cup since 2007. Virat Kohli was named Player of the Final, while Jasprit Bumrah was named the Player of the Tournament.

Meanwhile, as the Indian team was taking the victory lap, Sreesanth, who was commentating on Star Sports, was heard saying that people who said they wouldn’t watch the World Cup as they were not selected need to be patriotic towards their country and support the team.

“Kuch Players ne yeh bhi kaha ki main World Cup nahi dekhunga, kyunki main select nahi hua. Main bol rha hu ki pehle dekhbhakt hona Chahiye, aur jo team mein select nahi hue, unhe poora dil, dimag junoon ke saath team ko support karna Chahiye,” Sreesanth can be heard saying.

Shreesanth owning pan parag 😭 pic.twitter.com/VTwUjQMJSg

— Saurabh (@5t20century) July 1, 2024

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