India’s rookie fast bowler Yash Dayal has recalled his first interaction with Virat Kohli while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Dayal, the left-arm seamer from Uttar Pradesh, revealed Kohli backed him to the hilt and said the franchise would back him throughout the season irrespective of his performance.

Dayal scalped 15 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 30.60 and an economy rate of 9.14 in IPL 2024 for RCB and played a key role in taking the franchise to the playoffs.

Dayal said in an interview with News 24, “Kohli is portrayed as an overly aggressive individual on social media but he is nothing like that. When I tried talking to him, he himself came and explained a lot of things.

Meanwhile, Dayal was hit for five sixes by Rinku Singh in IPL 2023 while playing for Gujarat Titans and had to face a lot of backlash on social media. The left-arm seamer could only pick two wickets in five matches at an average of 82.50 and an economy rate of 11.49 in that edition.

“Everyone knows about the kind of season I had with Gujarat Titans. My health deteriorated after that. I had a lot of doubts in my mind, but when I started this season, I didn’t miss a single training session.”

Dayal said he was in awe of former RCB skipper Virat Kohli during the first interaction and believes the positive chat helped him stay motivated.

“Virat eased the pressure before the first match by telling me that RCB were going to back me throughout the season, irrespective of how I performed.

“He said that whatever happened has happened, just focus on the future. He told me that whenever I perform for RCB, there should be a smile on my face and I would have to be enthusiastic on the field. I understood what his personality was like. At first, I could not understand his words, I just kept looking at him.”

Dayal has received a maiden Test call-up for the first Test against Bangladesh.