"From a small city, he has come so far.." Yash Dayal’s father reflects on pacer's journey after maiden India test call-up

Yash Dayal has picked up 76 wickets in 24 First-Class matches so far.

With the view of the five test matches in Australia, India have handed left-arm pacer Yash Dayal his maiden call-up to the test side. Dayal is one of the four seamers picked in India’s squad for the first test against Bangladesh; the other three pacers in the squad being Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep.

India will host Bangladesh for a two-match test series, starting September 19 in Chennai. After the Bangladesh tests, India will host New Zealand for three tests before flying to Australia for a five-match test series.

Although Dayal is unlikely to play against Bangladesh, his call-up means that he is in the plans of the selectors to travel to Australia.

He was always obsessed with cricket: Yash Dayal’s father

Yash Dayal’s father Chandrapal reflected on his son’s challenging journey from not being selected in Uttar Pradesh’s under-19 team to now making India’s 16-man test squad. Chandrapal spoke of his son’s obsession with the game that has brought him this far.

“First of all, it is a matter of pride for our family. When a kid starts playing, he dreams of representing the country. Now, he has earned a call-up to represent the nation. From a small city, he has come so far. There were many tough challenges in his life, but he kept fighting. He was always obsessed with cricket. When your focus is right, you will get success,” Chandrapal Dayal told ANI.

“I was a cricketer myself, he saw me play as a kid. Though he could not play for UP in U19, he was selected in U23 back in 2018 and since then, he has not looked back. He has been progressing consistently since then, be it in the Ranji Trophy, IPL etc. This dream of playing for India has also come true.“

Yash Dayal’s mother Radha revealed that after the news broke out of Yash’s selection, the family burst crackers to celebrate.

“It is a matter of happiness for us. This is a big deal for us. We are celebrating it all together. All family members have gathered and will be bursting firecrackers. We cannot express our happiness in words. This all took a lot of hard work. We kept motivating him and gave him positivity to go on no matter what,” the pacer’s mother said.

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