Uttar Pradesh pacer Yash Dayal earned his maiden Test call-up for the first Test against Bangladesh, starting on September 19 in Chennai. Announced on Sunday, the 16-member squad includes four fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Dayal, who now finds himself sharing the stage with some of India’s finest.

For Dayal, however, this selection is more than just a step forward in his career; it is the culmination of a journey that saw him rise from the lowest of lows after a harrowing experience in the IPL 2023.

For nearly a year, Chanderpal Dayal, Yash’s father, would avoid venturing out of his residence near Allahabad's Karbala Masjid in the afternoons. The reason was deeply hurtful. In an interview with PTI, Dayal's father revealed that school buses would pass through his locality, and children peeking out of the windows would start hooting, "Rinku Singh, Rinku Singh five sixes, five sixes," – a painful reminder of his son Yash's ordeal during that fateful evening in Ahmedabad.

It was a day when Rinku Singh, Yash's Uttar Pradesh statemate, shot to instant stardom by hitting him for five consecutive sixes in the final over of an IPL game between Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders. The incident not only haunted Yash but also left his family disturbed.

"Humare liye woh ek hadsa tha (It was like an accident for us)," Chanderpal, a retired officer with the Accountant General's Office in Allahabad, recalled.

"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?”

Mother stopped eating

Yash's mother, Radha, was so distraught that she fell ill and refused to eat, unable to bear the sight of her son slipping into a shell of depression. Yash himself was deeply affected, remaining quiet for days, unable to shake off the trauma of that night.

"His mother Radha was so distraught that she fell ill and refused to eat as Yash went into a shell. Titans also released him as he had to rebuild his career," Chanderpal remembers vividly.

The situation was dire, but the Dayal family was determined not to let Yash give up on his dreams. "Yash fell ill, but we never let him think about giving up. We, as a family, made a pledge. 'Jab tak tum (Yash) India nahin khelogey, chodenge nahin. India tum khelke rahoge (We won't stop until you play for India. You will play for India),'" Chanderpal asserted.

Sport has a way of leveling the playing field, and for Yash, redemption came in the form of his recent national call-up. The narrative has now shifted from being the bowler who was hit for five sixes to being considered a better bet for Test cricket than established white-ball internationals like Khaleel Ahmed and Arshdeep Singh.

The Dayal family, who once had to endure the painful taunts of children, now celebrate Yash's triumph, savouring his favorite dish, "mutton keema," as they bask in the glory of his hard-earned success.

Whether Dayal would get a Test debut in the series, however, is debatable; with the presence of Bumrah and Siraj, India are unlikely to field a third pacer on what is expected to be a spin-friendly surface in the first Test in Chennai.

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