'He Said...': Yash Dayal Lets Out How Virat Kohli Helped Him Regain Confidence After Rinku's Beating

In the game of cricket, a batsman conquers glory by feeding on bowlers' errors. The failure to deliver the ball at the right length and line costs greatly, something which Yash Dayal is privy to. The left-armer was on the worst place to witness the exceptional innings of Rinku Singh, when he hit five sixes in the last over against Gujarat Giants to take KKR past the winning line. In a recent interview with ESPN, Yash Dayal revealed how the weight of conceding 31 runs in the last over impacted him and his family. However, he also brought forward the story about how he regained confidence and how RCB and Virat Kohli contributed to his re-emergence.

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Comeback After Setback

After suffering the immense beating from Rinku Singh in IPL 2023, Yash Dayal was released from the GT franchise, only to be picked by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the auction that took place later in the year. RCB's expenditure on Dayal reaped extraordinary dividends. He played a total of 14 matches for RCB and snared 15 dismissals for the franchise in IPL 2024. His most memorable outing in the season came against Chennai Super Kings , where he had to defend 16 runs against the mighty MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to take his side to the playoffs. Dayal was under pressure when MS Dhoni struck a monstrous six on the first ball of the over. Following that, he kept his calm and took the advice of Virat Kohli to bowl slower. Dayal prevailed in his objective as he made the dangerous striker Jadeja miss the last two balls, and hence the redemption was complete as life came full circle for him. He failed to defend 29 against a lesser-experienced Rinku Singh but kept his calm to defend 16 against two of the most experienced T20 players. It was destined for Dayal and narrated where the journey of deliverance began.

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Virat Kohli 's Role in Yash Dayal's Redemption

In the conversation with ESPN, Dayal recalled how Virat Kohli once gave him a pep talk after training which infused belief in him and gave birth to his new avatar.

“'Yash, I want to talk to you. Come to my room.' My first thought was to wonder what mistake I had committed that Virat bhaiya wants to talk to me (laughs). Hesitantly, I knocked on his door. Later, I couldn't believe I was sitting in his room, listening to him.”

He continued, "He told me what happened with the Rinku over was written in Rinku's destiny, but this season you need to prove why we picked you. We have been watching you for a long time and you were picked purely based on your skills. You will not feel like you have come to this team for the first time. We will back you completely. You will feel like it's a family. He also talked about the low times in his career and how he coped with them. He then said whatever role RCB gave me, I should do it happily and with excitement. When he told me that RCB would support me through the tournament, half the things in my mind got sorted out straightaway. I just had to step onto the field and perform."