Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) snatched a two-run win against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at home on May 4. In the last over, a well-set Ravindra Jadeja and CSK skipper MS Dhoni were in the middle. Yash Dayal was tasked to defend 15 runs by captain Rajat Patidar. Dayal erred just once in the last over and dismissed Dhoni with a low full toss. However, after the game, Dayal revealed that he was not thinking about taking Dhoni's wicket.
"At that moment, my mind was only focused on how I should execute the next ball. Since I had done it before, there was confidence in my mind that, yes, I can do it," he said. "There wasn't much difference between last year's wicket and this year's wicket. Last time it was caught out, and this time it was LBW on a yorker. The only thing was that I had to execute properly. I had no intention of taking a wicket. I just happened to get it — that was the lucky part for me," Dayal said in an interview posted on the Indian Premier League (IPL) website.
On the first three balls, Dayal conceded two singles and took Dhoni's wicket. Then, he bowled an above waist-height no-ball which was smashed by Shivam Dube for a six. But, Dayal came back well and conceded just three runs off the last three balls as CSK fell short of the target by three runs.
"The celebration was the same because I didn't realise it myself — I was talking to the one who was actually at the point (Jacob Bethell). I was telling him, 'Throw it, throw it at him.' So my mind was still there. I just wanted the whole thing to finish properly, and only after that did I realise (what had happened)," Dayal added.
Karthik hails Dayal
After the win, mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik lauded him for always having a plan. Karthik put him in the category of one of the best bowlers in India.
"He is right up there with some of the best that are there in India, the one thing that you see with the young crop of cricketers is how much they work hard behind the scenes, Yash is someone who is very diligent, comes to meeting with a paper and writes down everything what he wants to do, the execution might be up and down at times but one thing you will not get less from him is effort. He always has a plan, he has got a special skill and that is one of the reasons we retained him," Karthik told the broadcasters after RCB's thrilling win.
In a high-scoring contest, Dayal conceded 41 runs from his quota of four overs. So far, he has claimed 10 wickets from 11 games in the season.