How to pause ExoPlayer 2 playback and resume (PlayerControl was removed)

play player.setPlayWhenReady(true);

pause

player.setPlayWhenReady(false);

And you can check play state like this:

private boolean isPlaying() {
return player != null
    && player.getPlaybackState() != Player.STATE_ENDED
    && player.getPlaybackState() != Player.STATE_IDLE
    && player.getPlayWhenReady();
}

These codes are from PlayerControlView.

This is my way. Create two methods and call them when needed.

private void pausePlayer(){
    player.setPlayWhenReady(false);
    player.getPlaybackState();
}
private void startPlayer(){
    player.setPlayWhenReady(true);
    player.getPlaybackState();
}

call them here

 @Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();
   pausePlayer();

}

@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    startPlayer();
}

You can use void setPlayWhenReady(boolean playWhenReady).
If Exo is ready, passing false will pause the player. Passing true will resume it. You can check the player's state using getPlaybackState().