A year ago, fast bowler
Yash Dayal
fell ill after receiving online abuse for being hit for five sixes in an over by Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) batsman
Rinku Singh
. A year on from that day, when Dayal used to play for the Gujarat Titans, the right-arm pace redeemed himself in the tournament, albeit in a different jersey.
Bowling the last over in the crucial
IPL 2024
match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday, the
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
(RCB) pacer Dayal (2/43) held his nerves to stop CSK from reaching the 201-run mark, which would have put RCB out of the tournament.
IPL 2024: Results | Points Table
After the match, Rinku came up with a warm Instagram story, which was almost a virtual hug from KKR batsman to Dayal.
Tagging Dayal in the story, Rinku wrote: "God's plan baby".
Chasing RCB's commendable 218 for 5, CSK could only muster 191 for 7 for a 27-run win.
But that's not the entire story. CSK required to reach 201 and would have still made it to the playoffs. However, Dayal had other plans for the five-time champions.
The win took RCB's points tally to 14, the same as CSK, but the Bengaluru outfit leapfrogged CSK in the net run-rate column to finish fourth.
Hailing Dayal's effort, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis, who led Bengaluru's batting charts with his 39-ball 54, said: "I want to dedicate my 'Player of the Match' award to Yash Dayal. He has a golden heart."
English (US) ·