Prince Yadav’s journey to India: A father who wanted stability, a son who chased cricket

Calling Prince Yadav to India was never part of the family plan. In fact, on Tuesday afternoon, his father Ram Niwas was grocery shopping when the calls started pouring in. The retired senior constable of the RPSF (Railway Protection Special Force) could barely process what was happening.“I never expected this to happen. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing today and people are standing at my door to congratulate us. Even people who have never come to visit will come today.” “I am speechless. I was in the market carrying a shopping bag when my wife called me. Since then I have only been answering calls – I will buy groceries another time,” said Ram Niwas. TimesofIndia.com. The reason for the excitement was the biggest moment of Prince’s career. While preparing for Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2026 clash against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, the 18-year-old received his first India ODI call-up for the series against Afghanistan.However, cricket was never meant to become a full-time career for Ram Niwas. Like most fathers from a salaried background, he wanted stability for his son and repeatedly pushed him into government positions.“When he was 17-18, he saw nothing but cricket. What more does a salaried employee want than to see his child settle down in life? But you can’t force kids too much these days. So I kept quiet. I was very angry with him at times, but he just wanted to play cricket,” he said.He forced Prince to apply for recruitment to the Delhi Police and several posts in Group D. There was a time when Prince failed the written exams and even if he passed them, he would skip the interviews because he was concentrating on cricket.

Virat Kohli and Prince Yadav (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)

What made Prince’s rise even more unusual was how late it all started.At an age when most cricketers were already involved in structured cricket, Prince was still playing tennis matches in Najafgarh, just a few kilometers from Virender Sehwag’s home. He had already built a reputation in local tennis circles for his yorkers, but his cricket was taking no direction.Then came the turning point.Coach Amit Vashishtha happened to stop near a local plot while passing by on his scooter. What he saw caught his attention immediately: six consecutive yorkers from the young fast bowler.Vashishtha, known to work with players like Pradeep Sangwan, Mayank Dagar and Lalit Yadav, called Prince and asked him to report at the venue the next day.“You are playing well. I will meet you at the ground tomorrow. Son, you are 18 years old. Many people’s career in cricket ends at that age. You will have to work very hard,” Vashishtha told him.The prince came with two tennis balls in hand. Vashishtha asked him to bowl a few deliveries and immediately realized the raw potential ahead of him after seeing another set of toe-crushing yorkers.The challenge was huge. Prince had never even touched a leather ball at 18 and was competing against cricketers who had spent years in academies and age-group systems.There were also failures. In 2019, he was banned for two years for falsifying his age.But slowly things started to change.Prince first got an opportunity as a net bowler for Delhi before earning his place in the senior side. He made his first-class debut in 2024 and then produced a breakthrough Vijay Hazare Trophy season, taking 18 wickets in eight matches at an economy of 5.16. The performances caught the attention of many, including Virat Kohli, whom he met through Ishant Sharma.He followed this up with 11 wickets in his debut Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign to finish as Delhi’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament.His performances in the Delhi Premier League, where he took 13 wickets in 10 matches, eventually earned him an IPL contract with Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 30 crore.Prince played six matches in IPL 2025 before enjoying a strong 2026 season with 16 wickets in 13 games. One of the standout moments came when he dismissed Virat Kohli for a duck with a sharp pinch.For Vashishtha, the invitation to India was deeply personal.Just imagine – an 18-year-old kid who has never even touched a leather ball. It was extremely difficult. By this age most cricketers have played half their cricket but this kid worked incredibly hard. We have worked on his stamina, bowling, training and many other aspects of the game,” he told Timesofindia.com.“I have seen batsmen bleeding from their toenails from his yorker deliveries,” he added.“I am very emotional today. Pradeep Sangwan was India material. He could have been a 50 test player but the cheese did not play in his favor. I am very happy today, I am not able to control my emotions. My big dream failed before my eyes (I am really emotional today. Pradeep Sangwan was India material. He could have been a 50 test player today but I could not control my emotions,” Vashishtha said.

• Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey.