Riyan Parag sulking in a corner: Shubman Gill, Ananya Panday's warm exchange behind the scenes has internet on overdrive
The internet couldn't keep calm for Riyan Parag as Shubman Gill and Ananya Panday's behind the scenes footage for a commercial emerged.
Fans on the internet could not keep calm as the behind-the-scenes footage of a commercial featuring Indian cricketer Shubman Gill and Bollywood actor Ananya Panday emerged on X. Shubman and Ananya, the two stars of their respective fields, came together to shoot for an earphone advertisement, and while a cricketer and a film star collaborating for a project is nothing new, users on social media managed to drag Riyan Parag into the spotlight.
For those unaware, Parag faced a wave of online trolling after his search history was accidentally revealed during a live stream. The search, 'Ananya Panday and Sara Ali Khan,' quickly went viral, making him a target for jokes and ridicule on social media. And on Thursday, as Parag featured in the second-round Duleep Trophy match for India A against India B, fans flooded the social media with his reference again.
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Gill and Parag were part of the first-round Duleep Trophy fixtures before the former was released by the India A squad ahead of the 1st Test against Bangladesh starting September 19. Gill, along with the rest of the 15 members of the squad, are to assemble in Chennai today for a preparatory camp. Parag, however, continues to play in the second-round game, where after playing an entertaining knock off 37 in 29 balls studded with five fours and a six, he was sent packing by Arshdeep Singh.
What next for Shubman Gill and Riyan Parag
As for Gill, he is set to resume his role at No. 3 for India. Gill enjoyed tremendous success batting at the spot made famous by Cheteshwar Pujara and the legendary Rahul Dravid, scoring 452 runs from nine innings with two centuries and fifties each against England earlier this year. And with Gill being promoted as Team India's vice-captain in both Tests and T20Is – no one has been named Rohit Sharma's deputy in Tests – Gill will be expected to do even better when India's home season starts next week.
Parag, meanwhile, is just starting off in Team India's scheme of things. He made his debut in the Zimbabwe T20Is, scoring 24 in two innings before heading to Sri Lanka. There, Parag scored 7 and 26 but the surprise package was his bowling. In the 2nd T20Is, Parag unleashed magic with his leg-spin, off-spin combined, picking up 3/7 to give India a famous win. The sight of Parag rolling his arms over is straight out of head coach Gautam Gambhir's handbook, who is fond of having multi-utility players around him.
Surprisingly though, teammates Gill and Parag endured disappointing outings in the first-round matches. While Parag managed 30 and 31, giving away good starts in both innings, Gill cut an unconvincing figure with scores of 25 and 21.
