IPL is all about talent meets opportunity. IPL only comes alive when domestic and local talents create all the pomp and show. Tonight it is about Prince Yadav the LSG pace star.
Prince Yadav at the age of 17 didn’t even touch a leather ball, he used to play in fields and he could not have imagined he will play professional cricket. Prince started playing for Delhi in domestics. He started getting attention After taking the most wickets for Delhi in the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy last season. He was acquired by LSG in IPL 2025 for 30 lakhs although he couldn’t gain much popularity and didn’t have a good season. He only took 3 wickets in 6 games and had a whooping economy of 9.56. Yet LSG retained him for 2026 season.
Prince comes from Dariyapur Khurd, a small village near Najafgarh, best known as the birth place of Virender Sehwag. If Prince's father had his way, he would have studied hard, and got himself a secure job, like his sister did - she is a teacher at a government school. Ramniwas, Prince's father, worked in the railways, and has been a farmer since his retirement. But Prince - thus called since he was the youngest and the most pampered - wasn't interested in academics.
He was noticed by Lalit Yadav who played for Delhi.
He said in an interview:
"I was 17 when a new cricket academy started near our village," Prince, now 24, says. "A leather-ball cricket tournament was being held there, and the villagers wanted me to play for the village team because by then I had made a name in tennis-ball cricket and was bowling well. They thought that maybe I would do well with the leather ball too, but I had never even touched a leather ball. Lalit bhaiya came to watch that tournament, along with Delhi Ranji players Vision Panchal bhaiya and Rohan Rathi bhaiya. They watched me bowling in two or three matches and advised me to join an academy in Najafgarh, where all three of them used to train."
In the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, he took ten wickets in eight innings at an average of 26.00 and an economy rate of just 3.79. He couldn't make the 2020 Under-19 World Cup squad. He was also banned for a short while by BCCI for age fraud.
Prince Yadav career stats:
|
Format |
Match |
Wickets |
Economy |
Runs |
4W |
5W |
|
FC |
2 |
1 |
2.63 |
87 |
0 |
0 |
|
List A |
14 |
29 |
5.15 |
589 |
1 |
0 |
|
T20s |
21 |
22 |
8.55 |
653 |
0 |
0 |
|
IPL |
7 |
5 |
9.62 |
239 |
0 |
0 |
Prince Yadav has started for LSG today and bowled quite a fiery spell in the powerplay, taking two important wickets of Axar Patel and Nissanka .
