Yash Dayal’s maiden India Test call-up marks a turning point after IPL infamy

The BCCI unveiled India's squad for the first Test against Bangladesh earlier this week, right after the first round of the Duleep Trophy matches concluded on Sunday.

There weren’t too many surprises in the 16-man squad unveiled by the board; Rishabh Pant was going to be the first-choice wicketkeeper regardless of his performance in the Duleep Trophy, with Dhruv Jurel as his back-up.

Mohammed Shami’s ankle is yet to fully recover so Mohammed Siraj partners Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball. Meanwhile, the spin department and the top-four remain the same, with the exception of Virat Kohli, who returns to the No. 4 after skipping the England series earlier this year.

There was, however, one name in the 16-man squad that had fans buzzing on social media. In order to bring some variety in the pace unit, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee decided to include left-arm quick Yash Dayal, who earned his maiden India call-up as a result.

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It wasn’t too long ago when Dayal had hit the lowest point of his life, and not just career. Representing Gujarat Titans back then, the left-arm pacer was struck for five sixes by UP teammate Rinku Singh after being tasked with defending 29 runs from six balls, resulting in the Kolkata Knight Riders pulling off one of the most dramatic victories in IPL history.

While Rinku became an overnight star after his unbeaten knock of 48 in just 21 deliveries, Dayal was inconsolable. Rinku would soon be fast-tracked into the Indian team and make his debut later that year while Dayal became the subject of memes.

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Yash’s father Chandrapal recently revealed how the pacer was taunted even by schoolboys with Rinku’s name as a result of that forgettable over.

“Humare liye woh ek hadsa tha (It was like an accident for us).”

“The school bus would pass by, and kids would scream, ‘Rinku Singh, Rinku Singh, five sixes.’ It was so painful — why did this have to happen to my son?” Chandrapal told news agency PTI, adding that his wife Radha had stopped eating after seeing his son spiral into a state of depression.

Read | Hardik Pandya reveals how Rinku Singh's 5 sixes affected Yash Dayal

Things hardly improved for him later that year as GT decided to release him into the auction pool. However, the IPL auction provided him a lifeline as Royal Challengers Bengaluru went out of their way to acquire him for Rs 5 crore after a bidding war.

Failures such as the one Dayal experienced in April last year can have a devastating effect on an athlete, all the more so in a tournament that is watched by hundreds of millions from across the globe. And such incidents can end up becoming something of a mental block for athletes as well as for teams.

Batting legend Virat Kohli himself had to go through incessant trolling after a forgettable tour of England in 2014, where he was reduced to a walking wicket. And England pace legend Stuart Broad, for one, can relate to Dayal as he was struck for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 T20 World Cup just one year into international cricket.

An athlete’s legacy, however, is defined not by these hurdles, but how they overcome it. Kohli overcame the dark memories of 2014 with a fantastic run in England four years later, while Broad would go on to become one of the greatest pacers of all time.

Though not quite at Kohli and Broad’s level yet, Dayal has already his redemption — exorcising the ghosts of Motera 2023 with an outstanding spell of death bowling in a virtual knockout between RCB and Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy last year.

And the batter that he managed to silence in the final over was none other than MS Dhoni, one of the most successful in cricket history when it comes to cricket history. Dayal might have had fleeting memories of Rinku’s onslaught after ‘Thala’ struck him for a six in the first ball of the over.

But the manner in which he responded in the remainder of the over — dismissing MSD the next ball and conceding just a single in the next four deliveries to send the Royal Challengers into the playoffs — showed just why be belonged to this level and deserved to rub shoulders with the very best.

It was a dream comeback for the 26-year-old from Prayagraj. But he was by no means done yet. Representing one’s nation remains the ultimate dream for a cricketer regardless of nationality, and Dayal was hopeful of his exploits in the 17th season of the IPL leading to a national call-up one day.

His inclusion in the Indian Test side instead of one of the white-ball formats isn’t entirely surprising. Dayal has decent domestic numbers, having collected 76 First-Class wickets at an average of 28.89 since making his debut against Goa in 2018, which are better than those of the other left-arm pacer in the fray Arshdeep Singh (51 wickets at an average of 32.01).

India have been on the lookout for a left-arm pacer ever since Zaheer Khan retired, and while they have been able to fill the void with Arshdeep in limited-overs cricket, especially in T20Is, they remain on the lookout as far as the Test format is concerned.

The inclusion of a left-arm pacer might have been on the selectors’ agenda in the first round of the Duleep Trophy and they would have been closely observing both Dayal and Arshdeep before making their final announcement.

While Arshdeep wasn’t bad with the ball, collecting 1/29 and 1/37 in a losing cause for India D, Dayal’s 3/50 that helped India B bowl India A out for 198 and collect a 76-run victory for his side might just have impressed Agarkar and Co enough to get that spot in the squad.

It was fitting that Rinku was the first to celebrate Dayal’s death-over heroics in Bengaluru earlier this year, posting a story on Instagram with the caption “God’s plan baby” with a salute emoji at the end.

For all we know, the events over the last one-and-a-half years might just be the starting point of that plan, and that Yash Dayal’s story is about to take an even more interesting turn in the days to come.