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The Indian cricketer recalled the incident during a recent interview with City1016 Radio Station.
Riyan Parag for India (X)
Indian batter Riyan Parag has opened up about the controversy surrounding his YouTube search that unfolded after the last edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Parag who had a great season with Rajasthan Royals resumed his gaming live streams after the T20 competition. During one such session, his search history accidentally got leaked.
The 23-year-old was looking for music on YouTube when eagle-eyed fans spotted explicit searches related to renowned Bollywood actresses Ananya Panday and Sara Ali Khan.
A screenshot of the page soon went viral, with Parag facing backlash for all the wrong reasons. The Indian cricketer recalled the incident during a recent interview with City1016 Radio Station.
“I finished the IPL, we were in Chennai, finished the match, got on a discord call, with my discord team of streaming and stuff like that, 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,” Parag recalled.
“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,” he added further.
Despite all the chaos on social media, Parag chose to stay silent. “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 said on the radio show.
Parag appeared in his best form in the 2024 IPL. He played 15 matches to register 573 runs including four half-centuries. He batted at a strike rate of over 149 while maintaining an average of 52.09.
The performance earned Parag a call-up to the India team. He made his debut in a T20I against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club in July 2024. A month later, Parag made his first ODI appearance against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
