Kohli was in poor form this season, but still he scored a total of 341 runs with an average of 22.73. Riyan Parag on the other hand has played the same number of matches (16) and he has scored less than half as much runs as Kohli. I don't understand the point of keeping him in the team as a specialist batsmen, when Karun Nair is not being given any chances. I heard that Sanju Samson has some issues with Karun and that is the reason why he is not being given any chances. Anyway, as long as they are winning matches, these issues will remain under the radar.
Not taking Riyan Parag's side but his comparison with Virat is bit weird.
Virat opened a inning and sometimes bats at 3, which means he had more balls to face in every match. On the other hand Parag bats at number 6 position and only gets to bat limited amount of balls so it's kinda obvious he's not going to outscore Kohli. Even Dinesh karthik who was in God Mode throughout this season scored less runs than Kohli.
Not the best comparison I have to say, and that is exactly because of the reason you mentioned.
Another obvious reason why most middle-order batsmen cannot score too many runs is that when they come out to bat they generally don't have the time to get settled. They have to swing their bat at almost everything. On the other hand, the top-order batsman certainly has some time to get settled. So, it is really easy to understand why Virat Kohli obviously has a better statistic in this comparison.