Indian all-rounder Riyan Parag found himself at the center of a social media meme storm on Wednesday after fellow cricketer Shubman Gill and Bollywood actress Ananya Panday teamed up for an advertisement shoot. The internet lit up with memes shortly after both Gill and Panday shared posts promoting the ad on their respective social media platforms.
The advertisement in question was part of a campaign by audio products manufacturer Beats, which introduced new items to the Indian market, including the Beats Solo Buds, Beats Solo 4, and Beats Pill. Following the announcement, both Ananya and Gill posted pictures from the ad shoot on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, sparking a flood of memes that caused Parag to trend online.
But why did Riyan Parag become the target of memes? It all traces back to an incident in May when Parag had trended for a very different reason. During a live gaming stream on his YouTube channel, a screenshot of his YouTube search history went viral. The search history, which showed two entries-“Ananya Panday hot” and “Sara Ali Khan hot”-quickly became a topic of humor and trolling across social media platforms. Despite being a professional cricketer, Parag is also an occasional gamer, and his online presence has helped him gain a following of over 65,000 subscribers on YouTube. However, this slip during one of his streams opened him up to a barrage of online jokes and criticism.
On the cricket front, Parag has had a notable year. He performed brilliantly in IPL 2024, amassing 567 runs in 13 innings with an impressive strike rate of 151.60, becoming the highest run-scorer for Rajasthan Royals and leading all uncapped players in runs. His strong IPL showing earned him a debut for India in a T20I series earlier this summer and later saw him play in the ODI series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Now, Parag is preparing for the Duleep Trophy, which begins this Thursday. This prestigious tournament will kickstart India’s red-ball cricket season, providing an opportunity for players like Parag to impress the selectors ahead of India’s two-match Test series against Bangladesh.