Life has come full circle for Yash Dayal. The pacer found himself in the line of fire when he was smashed for 5 consecutive sixes by Rinku Singh in last year's IPL and not just fans but some experts also wrote him off back then when he was playing for the Gujarat Titans.
Cut to IPL 2024 and Yash emerged as the hero for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as he defended 17 runs off the last over against the Chennai Super Kings.
Despite being hit for a monstrous six off the first ball off the last over, Dayal held his nerve and defended 11 runs off the last 5 balls. He got the big wicket of Dhoni and then gave away just 1 run off the remaining 5 deliveries against Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur.
After the match, Rinku Singh posted a heartfelt message for the bowler whom he gave nightmares a year ago.
The KKR star took to Instagram and posted a picture of Yash Dayal celebrating with a caption, 'God's plan baby' with a salute emoticon.
This quickly went viral on the internet as fans hailed Rinku for appreciating Dayal.
Earlier, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis dedicated his player-of-the-match award to Yash, who kept his cool in the final over to seal a 27-run win over Chennai Super Kings in the battle for the final IPL play-off spot.
Du Plessis was adjudged the player-of-the-match for his 54 off 39 balls which along with Virat Kohli's 47 set the foundation as RCB posted a solid 218 for five on Saturday night.
CSK needed to score 200 plus to qualify and they came agonisingly close to sealing the berth with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja going hammers and tongs towards the end.
CSK, in fact, needed 17 off the final over but Dayal held his nerves despite being hit for a towering six by Dhoni in the first ball to seal it in the end for RCB.
"I dedicate the Man of the Match (award) to Yash Dayal! I said to him pace off on this wicket is the best option," Du Plessis said during the post-match presentation ceremony.