Yash Dayal's Father Got Worried When MS Dhoni Hit Him For First-Ball Six, Feared Repeat Of 'Rinku Singh' Blitzkrieg

Yash Dayal had been hit for five sixes in the last over of an IPL 2023 match by KKR's Rinku Singh. In 2024, he was in a similar situaton, bowling to legends like Dhoni, Jadeja but Dayal backed his strength to emerge out victorious this time.

Yash Dayal. (Image: ANI)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are playing the Eliminator on May 22 and one of the big reasons why this is happening is their left-arm medium pacer Yash Dayal. This is the same bowler who had been smashed for five sixes on the trot to win the game for Kolkata Knight Riders. Dayal was a part of the Gujarat Titans (GT) and never played for them after this game. Hardik Pandya, their then captain, had said that Dayal had got into depression after the game and lost his weight significantly. His mother had also fell ill seeing his son being trolled on social media after the last-over assault by Rinku. 

In next IPL auction, Dayal was bought by RCB and while he did not have great start to the season, he flourished as the season went ahead. Life came full circle for Dayal when he was given the last over to bowl and defend 17 against MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. 

The Dayal household was very, very nervous when the first ball was dispatches for six by Dhoni. Dayal's father thought that this could be a repeat of the Rinku Singh onslaught from a year ago. But deep down, he was also very confident about his son's success on this occasion.

"Woh darawana sapna firse aa raha tha jab Dhoni ne pehli ball pe sixer mara (That terrifying dream of last season started to haunt me when Dhoni hit that 110-m six off the first ball)," he recollected the dramatic final over. 

"But deep inside, I knew something good will happen this time. It's all the result of his hardwork, full credit to him. The God has been kind." 

The good thing that happened was that Dhoni's six went out of the ground and the ball had to be replaced. The new ball was much drier and it helped Dayal as he could grip it tightly. He started using his back-of-the-hand slower ones and gave just 1 off the next four balls. Dhoni got out and Jadeja, Shardul Thakur just could not score the big boundaries. The match was sealed after the penultimate ball of the 20th over was completed. The same Dayal, who was once a target of the trolls was a hero now for RCB.