RCB Bold Diaries: From a dream of a father to the reality of RCB’s gun fast bowler – here’s the rise of Yash Dayal

Yash Dayal has proven to be one of the key members in RCB’s echelons this year. However, behind this phenomenal journey remained a dream, a catalyst that kept on making him grind harder with every passing day. So what exactly is that dream?

On the latest episode of RCB Bold Diaries, Dayal revealed the wee days of his cricket career and how it all turned from desperation to rubbing shoulders with greats of the game.

Shedding some light on his family, Dayal said, “My father was in government service but now he is retired. My mother is a housewife. My father has played cricket and he has played with some big names such as Mohammad Azharuddin, Manoj Prabhakar. He has also played a university match with Sunil Gavaskar.”

He continued, “Due to an injury and a financial hiccup, he was not able to continue playing cricket at the highest level. He always wanted me to be a cricketer.”

Being a fast bowler in India, there are a handful of names that would always come up when you are talking about an idol. One of them obviously is that of Zaheer Khan. Narrating his childhood story of taking his first stride in cricket, Yash said, “I have always had one idol, Zaheer Khan. When I was in class six, I went for my first trials. I would always go and bowl in the trials but could never make the cut.”

He further added, “It was in 2017, I became depressed because you put in so much effort and years into cricket and then nothing really materialized. When the U23 camp happened, in 3-4 matches, I claimed 11 wickets. That was the first time I played in professional cricket. In fact, to be precise, I played four matches and claimed 15 wickets.”

From there he shuffled across to his journey for RCB, adding, “I am very happy to be a part of RCB and being a part of this team is a different type of fun which I am enjoying. If you are playing for a team that has Virat bhaiya in it, ever since I have been watching cricket, I have never thought that I would share the dressing room with him. When this year we were up against KKR, the most obvious thing is that I was nervous. I started bowling and I was not able to perform that well. Everything was going on wild in my mind. I bowled at Rinku as well. I remember one piece of advice from Saurabh Kumar who is my teammate at UP as well, he told me that I need to enjoy things to have fun. The more sportingly you take this, the more fun you will have in life.”

He continued, “Whenever I take the yard, I keep those words in mind and they have helped me immensely. Going forward, I have a dream that always remains and it hasn’t changed and that is of playing for my country, India. For that I will always keep on fighting, whatever is possible, I will keep on doing it.