Apart from Parag, Jofra Archer also blasted a quick 27 not out from 12 balls to take Royals home. The win meant Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik's brilliant 97 went in vain. For Rajasthan, Varun Aaron shone with 2 for 20, and Kolkata couldn't quite recover from his early strikes.
Here's how Twitter reacted
Aakash Chopra: Whoaaa...super game in the end. Riyan Parag....hope to hear his name quite a lot from here onwards. Temperament Top Class.
Sanjay Manjrekar: For someone so young, to have such calmness and confidence under pressure is just incredible! Riyan Parag was the real hero tonight.
Grishma Sharma: Man Of The Match Must mean for a Man who changed the match to his team's favour. And that should have been Given to Riyan Parag and Not to Varon Aaron.
Royals skipper Steve Smith was all praise for the manner in which Parag turned the game around for them.."We made it difficult for ourselves. We lost too many wickets in the middle section after a good start. Riyan Parag, isn’t he an impressive young man? He played very composed like a seasoned campaigner.
"Great contribution from Gopal and Archer too. I thought they bowled really well with the new ball, first 7-8 overs. Oshane did well in his first game. Varun Aaron was exceptional with the new ball. The boys did a great job,” he added.
--By A Cricket Correspondent