Riyan Parag may not have the IPL captaincy experience under his belt, but as he leads Rajasthan Royals into their first home game of the season against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in Guwahati, the 23-year-old all-rounder is banking on familiar conditions, local support and team belief to script a turnaround after the loss in the opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Parag came up with a witty response to KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun’s remarks about Guwahati being a “second home” for Kolkata Knight Riders. “I’m not sure how many Bengalis are there (in KKR),” Parag quipped. “Being an Assamese, I hope I’ll have more support here. That said, it all comes down to performance — whoever plays well tomorrow will win.”

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The 23-year-old, who was named interim captain of the Royals for the first three games of IPL 2025, as Sanju Samson is recovering from an injury, spoke about the significance of the leadership role in his cricketing journey.

“My journey since I was a 17-year-old player and now as a captain… It’s been great. The trust of the team management and support from Sanju bhai and Rahul sir has been great even though I don’t have the experience of captaining in the IPL. I only captained the Assam state team. I’m so grateful for that,” he said.

On the pressures of leadership, Parag said he was mentally ready for it. “The captaincy thing didn’t come suddenly… I was gradually made to understand that this kind of situation may come. So I was mentally prepared for it.”

Despite a disappointing 44-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in their season opener, Parag remains optimistic of his side’s prospects on match eve.

“We spoke about what we need to execute better,” he said. “We had a meeting today depending on the wicket and what combination we need to play. We just need to execute better.”

The batting all-rounder is also drawing confidence from the Royals’ pre-season preparations in Guwahati. Last month, the Rajasthan Royals had a six-day training camp in the city in the build-up to the 2025 season.

“I’m looking forward to our first home game. We’re familiar with the conditions and we practiced here before. We had a training camp here which will be of great help. We will have crowd support, which is great. Apart from that, being used to the ground will definitely help.

With a relatively younger squad this season, Parag is embracing the excitement of the challenge ahead.

“We are a relatively young team with a lot of exciting prospects. I don’t want to talk about the players which we can’t buy in the auction,” he said.

As the 2008 IPL champions prepare to take on KKR, Parag’s leadership will be put to the test. With home advantage, a familiar pitch and a relatively young squad, the stand-in captain sees this as an opportunity to prove his mettle. A strong performance in Guwahati could set the tone for the Royals’ campaign, and Parag is determined to make the most of it.