• Source:JND
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Chandrapal Dayal, the proud father of Yash Dayal, looked back on his son's difficult and dedicated cricket journey as he received his maiden call-up to the Indian team for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh.

Yash's hard work earned him a spot in the 16-member squad for the first Test, scheduled to commence on September 19 at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Chandrapal, who has been a cricketer himself, expressed pride and joy after his son received maiden India call-up, reflecting on the tough time and challenges Yash had to overcome with his determination and resilience.

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"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.

Chandrapal also lauded his son’s improvement as a player across different tournaments - the Ranji Trophy and the IPL (Indian Premier League).

“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," he added.

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Yash’s mother Radha was also delighted with the dream selection of her son in the national team, telling how they encouraged him to continue playing irrespective of the situation.

"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,” she said.

Yash's cricket career has been a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. After a decent debut in the IPL playing for Gujarat in 2022, his life was turned upside down when Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) Rinku Singh hammered him for five consecutive sixes in the last over in the IPL 2023.

This led to a severe depression, which he has openly spoken about in interviews. However, he made a phenomenal recovery in the 2024 season, bagging 15 wickets from 14 games for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and playing a vital role in their qualification to the playoffs.