NEW DELHI: On a glittering Tuesday night at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, it was not only Virat Kohli who ended his 18-year wait to win the IPL trophy, but the win was also pretty special for Royal Challengers Bengaluru's left-arm seamer Yash Dayal.
In Ahmedabad, Dayal's name had been associated with a bowler who hid his face with a towel after conceding five sixes and failing to defend 28 runs in an IPL match. He was ridiculed after being hit for five sixes in the final over by Rinku Singh. His family had been wary of tuning in to IPL’s high-pressure matches involving their son, but with RCB winning the IPL title at the same venue, the 27-year-old pacer had buried the ghost of that "nightmarish" IPL night.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!"It has been two years since the incident, and one of the things I have come to realise is that I truly enjoy cricket. I want to play in the IPL and I want to play for India, and that is the kind of redemption I seek. But I would say in cricket, it can happen to anyone at a certain level as a bowler," he told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.
Yash Dayal revealed that while most of his teammates shed tears, he struggled to cry after the final. "To be very honest, I was emotional. But I did not cry like usual. It was more a sort of happy emotion," he said.
With Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the 27-year-old forged a three-pronged pace attack, which played a crucial role in RCB lifting their first IPL trophy.
"Both of them are world-class bowlers. Bhuvi bhaiya and Josh Hazlewood joining the team after the auction made my work very easy. I was stress-free, and as a unit, we followed simple bowling plans and stuck to them. I enjoyed working with them a lot and would like to do so in the future also," he said.
"With Josh and Bhuvi bhai around, the plan given to me was that I should swing the ball aggressively, make the most of the new ball, and try to stay ahead of the batsman [batter]," he added.
In two and a half months, Dayal has picked Hazlewood's brain to work on his red-ball bowling. "What I have learned from Josh is to bowl at the perfect spot. The top of off stump with pace. What we say is bowling on a coin consistently without being erratic," he revealed.
RCB defeated Punjab Kings by six runs in the final in front of more than 91,000 fans, who erupted in joy when Kohli lifted the trophy at the world's biggest cricket stadium.
The 36-year-old Kohli, the only man to have played all 18 years for the same IPL team since its inaugural season in 2008, fittingly top-scored with 43 to anchor Bengaluru to victory. Kohli, who captained Bengaluru in 143 matches between 2011 and 2023, had been on the losing side in three previous IPL finals.
Dayal admitted that they wanted to win the trophy for Virat Kohli and vowed to repeat it in the future as well. "Whatever is done for Virat bhaiya is very less. He has given this franchise 18 years and has seen so many ups and downs. And we are very happy to have won the trophy and want to repeat it in the future also," he said.
The 27-year-old shrugged off the suggestion that his omission from the India A squad for the England tour, which he has been part of in recent years, added extra motivation to do well in the final. "I don't know about India A and India selection. My job is to work hard day and night until I reach that stage. There is no shortage of motivation in life," he said.
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