'Ashish Nehra was like a blessing to me': Yash Dayal

After a fruitful IPL stint with champions Gujarat Titans (GT), left-arm pacer Yash Dayal spoke of the influence of head coach Ashish Nehra on his bowling. The former India quick, Dayal said, was a "blessing" for a young talent like him and opened up a space for his learnings and on-field performances under his tutelage. 

Dayal, only 24, was playing his maiden IPL season in Titans' jersey and says Nehra's presence helped him leave a mark on the field. While expansive in terms of economy rate, the Titans enforcer emerged with 11 wickets in the competition, including the prized scalps of Aiden Markram, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Quinton de Kock. 

The young seamer, who is currently playing for UP's Ranji Trophy semifinal against domestic powerhouse Mumbai and adding to his previous 15 first-class caps, says he has come out of the IPL as a much-improved bowler and lot of that is down to Nehra's exceptional guidance. 

"Ashish Nehra backed me a lot from the beginning" - Yash Dayal 

A hands-on personality, Nehra has been credited by many young Indian players for their success over the years and his working methods with Yash Dayal were no different. The pacer said Nehra made him a more "centred" and "focused" bowler, who didn't go over-trying things under pressure. 

"Ashish Nehra backed me a lot from the beginning. Earlier I used to try a lot of different things and experiment. But Ashish sir taught me that one must be centered and focused, and taught me some basic plans to follow without taking too much pressure and not being harsh on yourself," Dayal was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "It's a very competitive level of cricket so you must be smart too."

Dayal revealed Nehra worked on the specifics with him and enabled greater variations to his bowling by holding separate net sessions. In many ways, Nehra identified Dayal to be a promising new-ball partner to the experienced Mohammad Shami and honed his skills. 

"[He taught me] seam position for outswing, how to position the hand if you're bowling inswing. He made me work on control a lot. He said how you deliver and execute is crucial, like how you bowl to the openers initially, what's your plan for them, different plans for death overs."

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As an economy rate of 9.25 would suggest, Dayal did prove really expensive from time to time. But the pacer said this is where, again, Nehra's influence came in very handy as the coach and captain Hardik Pandya gave their young quick the freedom and the assurance he required. 

"Ashish Nehra was like a blessing to me. Even if I was leaking runs, the team management saw my intent and backed me for that and played me till the final. And I tried my best in every game," Dayal said. 

"He [Hardik] is very calm and confident, and he knows what to do at what point of the game. He is a bowler's captain," he added on Pandya's captaincy. "If you have confidence in yourself, he lets you take your own decisions. That further boosts the confidence of a bowler. I would say he is the best captain I have played under."