AT YASH Dayal’s home in Prayagraj, no one was watching Saturday’s crucial Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings tie, the do-or-die game between the IPL’s two most popular sides. Since last year, the family had been wary of tuning in to IPL’s high-pressure matches involving their son, the 26-year-old RCB pacer who mostly gets to bowl the all-important final over.
All that changed on Saturday.
RCB
managed a grand comeback by knocking out
CSK
and snatching a play-off spot. The latter needed 17 runs in the final over to make it to the playoffs, but Yash conceded just 7. The left-arm pacer would get hugs and high-fives from teammates, but also got his long-awaited redemption.
Father Chandarpal did watch his son’s moment of triumph live as he couldn’t resist the urge to switch on the television before the game’s final over. But for a moment, the Dayals regretted breaking the family rule. Off Yash’s first ball, CSK’s last action hero M S Dhoni hit a six that went out of the stadium.
Speaking to
The Indian Express
a day after the game, Chandarpal can now afford to laugh as he recalls those tense moments.
“I blamed myself for ruining another match for my son. Dhoni can still tear apart any bowler,” he said over the phone. “I just folded my hands and started praying. ‘Aaj mere bachhe ka saath dena bhagwaan,
fir
se wo nahi hona chahiye (God, please support my son today. It should not happen again). It felt good the way he held his nerve after the first ball. I enjoyed the winning moment.”
Yash had done the impossible, he had restricted two of the game’s best finishers, Dhoni and
Ravindra Jadeja
.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis acknowledged the effort of the UP pacer, saying it was Yash who deserved the Man of the Match award and not him. Rinku, Yash’s tormentor from last season, would post ‘God’s plan baby’ on Instagram for Yash, along with a salute emoji.
Chandarpal recalls the tough times Yash and the family went through after those five sixes by Rinku. “In one of the WhatsApp groups, a person I know shared a meme, mocking Yash for conceding five sixes and I still remember what he wrote with the picture ‘Prayagraj Express ki kahaani shuru hone se pehle hi khatam ho gayi (The story of Prayagraj Express got over before it even began),” he said.
“It never stopped, we as a family literally quit all WhatsApp groups, barring our family one. Even when RCB picked him in the auction for Rs 5 crore, I remember someone saying ‘Paise naale mei baha aaye
Bangalore
waale (The franchise threw the money in the drain)’. We live in a world where even if you switch off from social media, you will end up seeing all kinds of stuff,” he said.
“Everyone wrote him off. And today, I am receiving a number of congratulatory calls and messages. Still, no one is talking about his hard work, grind and the way he tackled the pressure. The slower bouncer he has developed, the other variations he has learnt in the last year. The way he has bowled at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where even an edge goes for a six. But it’s fine because in one year, we as a family have realised cricket really is a funny game,” said Chandarpal, bursting into laughter.
Turning point
He also revealed that when RCB were at the bottom of the table, the franchise made sure that every cricketer had a family member with them to take their minds away from the cricket field. Yash called his elder sister Shuchi, a dietician by profession, who has been the cricketer’s pillar of strength since childhood.
“She is very protective about Yash. She was the luck RCB needed because the moment she joined the team hotel, RCB started winning and they ended up winning five in a row. She had to return because of her work but with his sister around, it filled Yash with positivity and his performances also started to enhance,” the father said.
Last year, a couple of days after being hit for five sixes, Yash asked his father “Papa, career khatam ho gaya kya mera (Is my career over)?” The fears were unfounded. After his heroics in the last match, Yash told his father to pack his bags and come watch him play in the Eliminator on May 22.
“I am yet to see a single match at the stadium in this year’s IPL. Yash had asked me to come and watch the last two league games in Bengaluru. I randomly told him ‘playoffs mein aate hain (I will be there in the playoffs)’. He said ‘Papa, chances are very slim.’ Now they have qualified and I will book my tickets for
Ahmedabad
,” Chandarpal said.