In 2021, there was a short video of Yash Dayal’s bowling on YouTube. Obviously, by then, Dayal had already made his List A and first-class debut for Uttar Pradesh. A year later, he ended up playing in the IPL too. However, this one video gave an indicator about Dayal’s strengths. From round the wicket, and wide of the crease, he got one to angle in and then straighten off the pitch to open up the batter on the defence and castle him. He seemed to have deceptive pace too.
Some three years later, Dayal’s tactics were rewarded with three wickets in the second innings of the India A-India B Duleep Trophy fixture. Soon after, he even found a place in the India squad for the upcoming first Test against Bangladesh.
His initial challenge on the final day’s play was to bowl to Riyan Parag, the dashing batter from Assam. Parag was certainly not going to back down as he smacked Mukesh Kumar and Dayal for a few sixes. But it was Dayal who had the last laugh. Dayal shifted to his favourite round-the-wicket angle and once more got it to nip away just enough from wide of the crease to force Parag to edge one behind.
One of the cornerstones of the final day’s play was KL Rahul pitting all his experience and sound defence to negate Dayal’s threat from round the wicket. There is something different about Dayal bowling from round the wicket. Maybe he hits the seam consistently as he tends to do more with the ball from that angle.
Dayal also had success from over the wicket as he found just enough away movement to dismiss both Mayank Agarwal and Dhruv Jurel. He is also not shy of having a word or two with the batter, in order to rile up his opponent. Dayal having a go at Parag on the final day serves as an example.
Despite having a fair bit of success in the Duleep Trophy game, there are a few question marks over Dayal’s bowling. For starters, he doesn’t have a potent inswinger from over the wicket, which is generally the chief weapon of a left-arm pacer. The selectors, though, have decided for the time being that he is the best available left-arm option for Test cricket out of Khaleel Ahmed, Dayal himself and Arshdeep Singh. One of the reasons for the selectors to plump for a left-arm paceman could be that such a bowler can create enough rough for someone like R Ashwin to exploit.
Dayal also has an interesting backstory. Here was the same bowler who was tonked for five consecutive sixes by his state-mate, Rinku Singh, in the 2023 IPL. The very next year, Dayal got the better of the veteran MS Dhoni in a high-pressure IPL game at the Chinnaswamy. So, the selectors have probably considered his temperament as well while naming him in the Test squad.