Prince Yadav: From tennis-ball cricket to India debut — The IPL story nobody saw coming

It was the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow between the home side, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where Prince Yadav got his name into the headlines with a superb delivery to dismiss Virat Kohli. A few days later, he was picked in the Indian ODI squad against Afghanistan. 

Manifestation has its own power if one believes in spirit. After the evening, several interviews with Prince went viral, despite his dominance in the league over the last two seasons. That was because the evening was a little special.

Prince talked about sharing the dressing room in an ODI game with both Rohit Sharma and Kohli in the near future. He could have fulfilled his dream had Kohli been fit to participate in the series. However, he gave life to the dream partially as Rohit saw the Delhi pacer getting his debut cap from Shreyas Iyer. 

Prince’s interview after the IPL 2026 clash, where he revealed that he used Kohli’s own advice to dismiss the batter, went viral. He was already part of the dressing room with the former Indian captain. That wasn’t for the Indian side, though; it was for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), where Ishant Sharma was also part of the squad.

The right-arm pacer always had the pace to gain success, but to do well in the white-ball format, especially while bowling with the new ball inside the powerplay, line and length would always be important, and Prince showed that skill in the IPL 2026.

The gully cricketer who nobody scouted — How Prince Yadav survived on talent alone before IPL found him

Prince Yadav never imagined that he would become a professional cricketer. By the age of 17, he had not even touched a leather ball and was a tennis-ball bowler, who had started in the fields around the village near Delhi. That was the time when he was only good enough to be called to bowl in, in the tennis-ball events, but not beyond that.

He comes from Dariyapur Khurd, a small village near Najafgarh, best known as the birthplace of the opening Indian batter, Virender Sehwag. If the route of career for Prince had been guided by his father, then he would have studied hard and gotten himself a secure job, just like his sister.

See Also: Watch: Prince Yadav uses Virat Kohli's own advice to dismiss him in LSG vs RCB IPL 2026

Prince’s sister is a teacher at a government school. Ramniwas, the pacer’s father, worked in the railways and has been a farmer since his retirement. But his son, who was the youngest and most pampered among all in the family, had simply no interest in academics.

“When I was 12-13, I used to bunk school and go to the village fields to play tennis-ball cricket. This went on for three to four years, and gradually I became a tennis-ball professional.” Prince said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo in 2025.

“At first, I had to spend my own money to play matches and tournaments, but later I started getting paid. Then I began travelling to play tournaments from Surat to Mumbai and to Kolkata.” The pacer addressed.

From watching cricket on a black-and-white TV to lighting up the IPL — Prince Yadav's growing-up story

Lalit Yadav, who played for the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL, noticed Prince for the very first time, and it became his turning point in his career. The pacer was 17 when a new cricket academy started near his village.

A leather-ball event was being held there, and the villagers wanted Prince to be part of the event as he had already done well in the tennis-ball cricket. That was the first time Prince bowled with the leather ball and impressed his ‘Lalit Bhaiyaa’, who came to watch the competition with the Delhi Ranji players, Vision Panchal and Rohan Rathi. They advised the pacer to join an academy in Najafgarh, where all three of them used to train.

See Also: Prince Yadav named in India's ODI squad vs Afghanistan — Sanjiv Goenka says 'Joy to Witness' as LSG pacer

“In tennis-ball cricket, the yorker is the only weapon, and I could bowl six yorkers in an over. I only knew how to bowl yorkers, but I didn't know what swing and seam were, or what a length ball was. After coming into leather-ball cricket, I had to learn all these things.” The fast bowler claimed in the same interaction.

That academy was the Sporting Cricket Club, around 15 kilometers from his village, and under-19 World Cup players, Mayank Dagar and Pradeep Sangwan, had featured there in their formative seasons.

Within a year of joining the academy, Prince made it to Delhi’s U-19 side and played the Cooch Behar Trophy in the 2018-19 season and the Vinoo Mankad Trophy in 2019-20. In the VMT, he picked up 10 wickets in eight innings at an average of 26 and an economy rate of just 3.79.

Prince couldn’t make the 2020 U-19 World Cup squad, which had some incredible players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi, and Dhruv Jurel. In that season, he was part of the squad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Delhi but didn’t make the playing XI. 

In December 2020, things went downhill for Prince. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) banned the bowler for two years for age fraud and ruled that after the ban, he could only play senior cricket. After the ban was lifted, Prince performed really well in the Delhi Premier League (DPL) and earned a place in the senior side.

The IPL performances that forced the selectors' hand — Prince Yadav's numbers that couldn't be ignored

In 2023, he was a net bowler for the Lucknow franchise in the IPL. The Ranji Trophy debut finally came in 2023-24, but he didn’t get a chance to bowl in that game against Jammu and Kashmir as only 42 overs were possible due to the poor weather. In the fourth-round clash against Uttarakhand, he got only one wicket in 33 overs across the two innings and was dropped.

Then came the turning point when he took 13 wickets in ten games at an economy rate of 8.18 for the Purani Dilli 6 in the DPL as the side was captained by Rishabh Pant and coached by Vijay Dahiya. And as it turned out, captain Pant and assistant coach Dahiya bought Prince at his base price of INR 30 lakh.

See Also: Watch: Prince Yadav, Tristan Stubbs involved in heated moment during LSG vs DC IPL 2026 clash

The 24-year-old played six innings of the IPL 2025 and picked up three wickets at an average of 75 with an economy rate of 9.85. There was a huge development in his performance in 2026 when he ended up with 16 wickets in 14 innings at an average of under 29 and a fine economy rate of below nine at the best bowling figures of 3/32 in an innings.

“My first IPL season was decent. There were many learning moments, and I learned a lot from them. I was told just before the tournament that I would get chances in the opening matches because Avesh and Akash Deep bhaiya were not fit. I also knew that if I wanted to make my place, I had to perform well in those matches.” Prince said in the same interview.

“When people recognize him as 'Prince's father', he feels very proud. He is happy now, and if he is happy, then I am happy too.” The bowler expressed.

The domestic record that demanded a chance — Prince Yadav's numbers before IPL came calling

No matter how much one does well in the IPL, domestic performance becomes really important for a player’s debut in the national side, especially in any format apart from the T20Is. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2024 season, Prince picked up the most wickets for Delhi.

He continued the same impressive bowling in VHT 2025/26 and ended as the joint fifth leading wicket-taker of the campaign, with 18 wickets in eight innings at an average of under 20 and a fine strike rate of 22.38 and an economy rate of just over five, with the fine bowling performance of 3/28 in an innings.

See Also: Watch: Prince Yadav strikes early as Ishan Kishan departs for 1 in IPL 2026 clash vs SRH

Prince hasn’t played a four-game since the 2024 season when he came up against the Uttarakhand side. In the List A games, the right-arm pacer has 29 wickets in 14 innings at an average of 20.31 and a strike rate of 23.6 with one four-wicket haul.

In the shortest format, the bowler has 38 wickets in 35 innings at an average of under 30 and a strike rate of 20 with a decent economy rate of 8.66, thanks to the best figures of 3/32 in an innings. 

Prince Yadav’s career before ODI debut against Afghanistan-

The years of hard work finally brought success for Prince, who made his debut in the 50-over format against Afghanistan in Lucknow. 

Prince Yadav’s story of ODI debut through successful IPL- FAQs