Yash Dayal, using smart variations, redeems himself by dismissing Dhoni and taking RCB to famous win

As MS Dhoni deposited the first ball of the last over for a 110m monster six, Yash Dayal’s had flashbacks of April 9, 2023. With Kolkata Knight Riders needing 29 off the last over, he had conceded five consecutive sixes to Rinku Singh even as his family were watching him from the stands at Ahmedabad. Here at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, in what was Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s biggest game of the season, Dayal overcame emotions and nerves to concede just 7 runs and put his side in the play-offs.

With Chennai Super Kings requiring 17 runs off the final over to make the play-offs, Royal Challengers Bengaluru were under pressure. Chennai were making a comeback out of nowhere. Apart from a wet ball to factor in – which saw Lockie Ferguson bowl two above the waist full-tosses – Dayal had to defend it against arguably the best finisher the world has seen. Dhoni may be turning 43 in a couple of months and he isn’t as agile anymore, but right through the season, he has been hitting the sixes, long and big. The first ball turned into a full-toss on the leg-stump which went over fine-leg.

Dayal had very little scope for another mistake now. For the first time on the night, silence gripped Chinnaswamy as Dayal ran in to bowl the second. “Last time (against KKR) , whatever happened to me, there were a lot of nerves. But now ever since I came to the RCB set-up, I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work behind the scenes. And I was able to deliver in the matches as well. And after Dhoni hit the six, I was just thinking about delivering two good deliveries and how to execute my plan. And I didn’t see any of the senior players coming in to offer advice and they were relaxed. It showed that they had the confidence in me. So I was able to execute the plan,” said Dayal, who began the night by removing Daryl Mitchell in his first over.

Off the next ball, Dayal brought out the back of the hand slower ball – which is not just easy to execute, but hard to score off as well – and Dhoni was through the shot early. As Swapnil Singh completed the catch at square-leg, Dayal let out a roar. But between the first and the second ball, a whole lot was running through his head.

“After the first ball went for six, subconsciously you start thinking about KKR game. So I stopped looking at the scoreboard and was just thinking about execution. Obviously, with all the noise around, the mind was diverting. But as a player, you look forward to these moments and it is what you train for. Emotions were running high, but in the middle, you have to keep all of it aside and just follow the process that has been working all along. So I was focussing on executing my plan,” Dayal added.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis with bowler Yash Dayal during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, Monday, April 15, 2024. (PTI Photo)

That one over against KKR last year had given him a lot of stress. But on Monday night, he wasn’t going to repeat the mistakes. Back then he was devoid of variations. But here, he went back to the slower deliveries that has been working for him all season. In a bowling attack that has hardly looked inspiring, Dayal has been the lone exception for RCB. With 15 wickets, he is the lone RCB bowler in the top-20 wicket-takers list this season. And he showed why in the remaining four deliveries of the final over.

He greeted Shardul Thakur – a very capable hitter – with a 106 kmph slow-ball bouncer. The equation was getting steep. Off the fourth ball, he delivered a cutter that found Thakur’s edge and gave him a single that brought Ravindra Jadeja to strike. 10 was needed off the last two deliveries. In the last year’s IPL final, from a similar position, Jadeja had won it for Chennai. In the 17th over, with 63 needed off the last four overs to qualify, it was in Dayal’s over that Jadeja hit a boundary and a six to keep Chennai’s hopes alive.

But Dayal wasn’t going to give an inch this time in the final over. Fully aware of Jadeja’s hitting arc, Dayal bowled the fifth delivery full and wide of the off-stump as the batsman swung and missed. As Dinesh Karthik collected it and Chinnaswamy erupted for the nth time on the night, Dayal was already off on a celebratory run, exchanging hugs with the wicketkeeper. Off the last ball, he repeated the same line and length as Jadeja missed it again. Dayal was off like a footballer’s extended run after scoring a screamer.

The whole of Chinnaswamy was on its feet as Bengaluru celebrated a famous win way into Saturday night.

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