Yash Dayal redeemed himself by bowling the nerve-wracking final over in the virtual Eliminator between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2024. He defended 27 runs in the final over with MS Dhoni at the strike. CSK needed to score just 18 of the demanding runs to qualify for the playoff and Dhoni’s wicket proved to be the turning point of the game.
Dayal bowled the first ball of the over and the veteran sent the ball out of the park. It was the second ball that proved to be catastrophic for the IPL 2023 champions as Dhoni was caught at the boundary rope. The right-arm pacer revealed that it was Virat Kohli’s pep talk about bowling the slower ones and avoiding Yorkers, that helped his cause.
Also Read: Jacques Kallis to join KKR as mentor ahead of IPL 2025
“Virat bhaiya told me to not give pace to Mahi bhai, because he likes pace, so Virat bhaiya calmed me down after the 1st ball six, a chat with him helped me a lot,” said Dayal as quoted by News24.
Kohli is portrayed as an overly aggressive individual: Dayal
Dayal also shed light on Kohli’s demeanour off the field. The former RCB captain is termed as the most aggressive cricketer on the field. But the 26-year-old revealed that Kohli is unlike what he is perceived as on the field. RCB won the game and entered the playoffs. They succumbed to Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator 2.
Also Read: Gautam Gambhir never sugarcoats, says Krishnappa Gowtham
“He is portrayed as an overly aggressive individual on social media but he is nothing like that. When I tried talking to him, he himself came and explained a lot of things. Everyone knows about the kind of season I had with Gujarat Titans. My health deteriorated after that. I had a lot of doubts in my mind, but when I started this season, I didn’t miss a single training session,” Dayal added.