Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag has lost a quarter of his match fee and picked up one demerit point after being spotted “using a vape inside the dressing room” during Tuesday night’s successful chase against Punjab Kings in New Chandigarh.
In a short statement released on Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed Parag “was found to have breached Article 2.21 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct, which relates to conduct that brings the game into disrepute.” The 24-year-old, whose 34 off 18 balls helped RR over the line with four deliveries to spare, “admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by the match referee, Amit Sharma”.
The board added that it is “exploring other options to initiate proceedings for stringent action against the erring team, its officials and player/s to ensure that the reputation of IPL remains intact”. That wording suggests further penalties cannot be ruled out, though no timeline has been offered.
Images of Parag holding the device surfaced on social media soon after the match, drawing swift criticism and prompting the BCCI enquiry. While vaping is legal in many countries, Indian law bans e-cigarettes, and IPL regulations are explicit about prohibited items inside team areas.
The incident is the franchise’s second brush with the code in less than a fortnight. On 10 April, team manager Romi Bhinder was fined INR 1 lakh for using his mobile phone in the dug-out during the fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Guwahati. Bhinder admitted the lapse, telling the league’s anti-corruption unit it was inadvertent. He offered an apology and was later “warned to exercise greater care in the future and to adhere strictly to the established guidelines”.
Speaking privately after Parag’s punishment, a senior Royals official accepted the optics are poor. “It’s an avoidable error and we’ll handle it internally,” he said, adding the leadership group had reminded players of protocol straight after the news broke.
Former India pacer Zaheer Khan believes the BCCI response is proportionate for now. “First you make the player aware of the consequence, then you see if there’s a pattern. One demerit point doesn’t hurt the team immediately, but it sends a clear message,” he told a television panel on Thursday evening.
Parag’s focus will quickly shift back to the cricket. The Royals, top of the table with six wins from eight, host Mumbai Indians on Saturday. A repeat of Tuesday’s 223-run pursuit would all but seal a playoff berth, though the leadership knows unwanted off-field headlines have a habit of lingering longer than the runs on the board.
