IND vs BAN: Revealed- How Yash Dayal made it to India squad ahead of Arshdeep Singh and Khaleel Ahmed?
India's squad for the first Test match against Bangladesh had one new appearance. Left-arm seamer Yash Dayal finally made it to India's senior team after years of toil in domestic cricket and for India A.
It was a historic moment for Dayal, who was selected ahead of the other two left-arm quicks in contention, Khaleel Ahmed and Arshdeep Singh. All three pacers were involved in the first round of the Duleep Trophy 2024.
But based on their overall and recent performances, Dayal got the nod ahead of the other two.
Before the Duleep Trophy, Arshdeep was even a contender for the Test series against Australia later this year after his heroics with the new ball in the T20 World Cup 2024. But Dayal got the nod ahead because of his experience.
Here's how Yash Dayal made it to India's Test squad
According to a report in the Indian Express, three left-arm fast bowlers were in contention for one spot in India's Test squad.
Those fast bowlers are Khaleel Ahmed, Arshdeep Singh, and Yash Dayal. Choosing one out of these three pacers was a difficult job but they were chosen based on their recent performances and experience in first-class cricket.
Both Khaleel and Dayal were involved in the India A vs India B match at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Khaleel finished with figures of 2-54 and 3-69 in the match while Dayal had figures of 1-39 and 3-50.
While Khaleel was more expensive and lacked control at times, Dayal consistently hit the right lengths and got rewarded in the second innings.
Yash Dayal picked up the big wickets of Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel in the second innings and also beat the bat sometimes. Khaleel didn't do too bad either but Dayal's experience in red-ball cricket helped him go past Khaleel.
More first-class experience for Yash Dayal
Yash Dayal has played 24 matches in his first-class career so far while Khaleel Ahmed has played just 13.
On the other hand, Arshdeep Singh was also in contention for a spot but his performance in the opening round of Duleep Trophy was not the best.
While playing for India D, Arshdeep got seamer-friendly conditions in Anantapur, where the match was finished in just three days. However, he could not make the most of the conditions and recorded figures of 1-28 and 1-37 in the match.
While he was accurate, Arshdeep lacked wicket-taking ability and got just two wickets in the match. In terms of first-class experience, Arshdeep Singh has played 17 matches so far with some of them being from County cricket as well.
A BCCI official even reasoned out the selection of Yash Dayal ahead of Arshdeep Singh and Khaleel Ahmed.
“Yash Dayal has played more first-class cricket than both Arshdeep and Khaleel. And in the first round of the Duleep Trophy match, Arshdeep got a green top in Anantapur but he couldn’t make the most of it,” the official was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
Dayal's selection has further raised his chances for selection in India's squad for the Test series against Australia as well. The selectors are in search of a left-arm fast bowler to provide an X-factor to the team.
The two-match Test series between India and Bangladesh will begin on September 19. The first Test will take place in Chennai while the second Test will be held in Kanpur.
