Mumbai: Gujarat Titans’ 24-year-old left-arm pace bowler Yash Dayal has said that nervousness of playing his first Indian Premier League (IPL) game could have got the better of him on Thursday, but he was happy that he could complete the task assigned to him to the satisfaction of his skipper Hardik Pandya.
Dayal emerged the new bowling sensation in the IPL, taking 3/40 in his four overs as Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 155/9, falling short in the chase by 37 runs. The Titans had earlier made 192/4, thanks mainly to skipper Pandya’s unbeaten 52-ball 87 and Abhinav Manohar’s 28-ball 43.
It was Gujarat’s fourth win of the IPL 2022 season and they climbed to the top of the points table with eight points.
“It’s a big thing for me for the kind of background I come from. It was a proud moment for me and my family. I was a bit nervous but I controlled it. I liked the whole experience,” Dayal said in a video posted on the IPL website.
Dayal said that he was extremely nervous when he came in to bowl to Devdutt Padikkal, adding that he did not allow it to “compromise my bowling” at any stage of his debut IPL match.
“I was very nervous, but still I did not compromise with my bowling. I knew I had to keep my line and length and it worked for me. Hardik backed me to the hilt. He had left it to me to do my bowling… where I wanted to bowl, what filed placements I wanted. He gave me all the leeway to try whatever I wanted to with the ball,” said Dayal.
Abhinav Manohar, who shared a fruitful partnership with Pandya, and scored a quick-fire 43 runs said that he get a lot of confidence when he has the skipper in the middle batting with him.
“It feels good to bat with Hardik because he is a similar batsman as I am. He is a hard hitter of the ball. That gives me the confidence to go out and express myself. He’s always there telling me what to do, how to read the situation better. So, there is a lot to learn (from him) when I am batting.
“It’s a great feeling, a dream for me because I’ve been seeing him on TV, seeing him bat… always been a big fan of him. And the way he strikes the ball.”
On his battle with RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who finally got him out, Manohar said, “He has been a good friend of mine for the last 5-6 years. I knew one day I will have to face him in IPL and that day was today. Felt good to face him out in the middle. I kind of knew what he was trying against me and I played my shots, that worked in my favour,” added Manohar.
–IANS