Yash Dayal's father recalls painful taunts from school kids following Rinku Singh's sixes heroics

For young Indian seamer Yash Dayal, Rinku Singh's five sixes in the final over, when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took on Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2023, haunted him and his family life in Prayagraj to date. The aftermath of that fateful over was incredibly challenging for the Dayal family.

Yash's father, Chanderpal Dayal, recounted the painful experience. He revealed that the incident was an accident for them as school kids would scream Rinku's name. As a result,  it became quite painful for the family to receive such kind of criticism.  

“It was like an accident for us. The school bus would pass by, and kids would scream, ‘Rinku Singh, Rinku Singh, five sixes.’ It was so painful -- why did this have to happen to my son?” Dayal's father was quoted as saying by PTI.

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The taunts took a toll on the family, with Yash's mother falling ill and the young bowler retreating into a shell. However, Chanderpal refused to let his son give up on his dreams. He motivated Yash by citing the example of Stuart Broad, who bounced back from being hit for six sixes by Yuvraj Singh to become one of England's greatest seamers.

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“We won’t stop until you play for India. You will play for India). We explained to him that very night that it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. Yuvraj Singh hit Stuart Broad for six sixes, and Broad went on to become one of the greatest seam bowlers of all time,” Chanderpal added.

Dayal's hard work finally paid off as he received his call-up for India's Test squad against Bangladesh. His father revealed that when his son was bowling well in the first match of the Duleep Trophy, he felt that his name might be included anytime.

"It can’t get bigger than this for a father. For any cricketer, representing the country in Tests is the ultimate dream. It’s a huge day for us, for our family, and for our friends. The entire credit goes to him. No matter how hard I would have tried, it was his efforts that got him where he has reached today. I had the hunch when India A were 76/4 in the second innings, and Yash had taken three of the four wickets that morning. I told my family, ‘He has made his claim; now it’s up to the selection committee.’ They saw his potential,” he concluded.