Prince Yadav of Lucknow Super Giants (AP Photo) NEW CHANDIGARH: Not so long ago, Prince Yadav used to get frequent beatings from his father for roaming around the neighborhood playing cricket with a tennis ball. Until he was 17, Prince played every tennis cricket match in Dariyapur Khurd, a village behind Virender Sehwag’s birthplace, Najafgarh, on the south-western outskirts of the capital.“Bahut maar khaata thaa ghar pe. (I used to thrash a lot at home),” says the LSG pacer with a mischievous smile during a chat with TOI here, “I never aspired to become a professional cricketer. I never even thought about it. I enjoyed playing tennis cricket and did nothing else.”
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IPL 2026: LSG’s Prince Yadav backs their plan despite loss to PBKS Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!At first glance, it’s hard to imagine Prince as a fast bowler. They don’t stand very tall and an ultra-slim figure can be very misleading. His father’s (retired railway police) concerns were legitimate. The family’s earnings depended largely on wheat farming, perhaps Prince seemed to add nothing to it. But the irony is that at the age of 24, he is still playing tennis cricket even as he is fast becoming India’s outstanding uncapped fast bowler in the IPL.“I still play tennis ball cricket even after I came back from last year’s IPL. I can’t speak for everyone, but it helps with my arm speed because you have to put in a lot of effort to bowl the tennis ball quickly. Yorker zorr se lagta hain (you can bowl a quick yorker),” he says, adding quickly, “Whenever I get a break from the farm, I harvest cricket, I love it. just a few days ago.”IPL 2026: Best bowling average and strike rate (minimum 10 wickets) On Sunday, Prince emerged from the carnage caused by the Punjab Kings batsmen with figures of 2/25 in his four overs. He was famous for his yorkers in Delhi cricket. But he looks like a more rounded pitcher this year. LSG bowling coach Bharat Arun claims he has all the ingredients to make him a special fast bowler. “We have seen that he can get the ball to swing and he has different variations as well. He has a range of slower balls and yorkers. And he works very hard to hone those skills whenever he gets an opportunity to bowl,” says Arun.Prince has been learning on the job since being picked by former Delhi cricketer Lalit Yadav, who insisted he join an academy 15 km from his home at the age of 17. And Prince cannot be seen too far from Mohammed Shami during LSG training sessions. After every delivery, he will go to Shami and want to give a nod.“You have to be blessed to bowl with someone like Shami. He’s always with all the young fast bowlers. He’ll talk about life off the field whenever we’re not training. He hangs out with us,” gushes Prince, “I can’t share what he says because those things are very personal.”“After the last IPL, I was in constant touch with Zaheer Khan (LSG mentor last year). I spent a lot of time with Ishant Sharma in the Delhi team. Ever since I got into Delhi cricket, I have only been learning the art of fast bowling,” he added.Everything seems to be moving fast for Prince at the moment. But he was dealt a heavy blow when the BCCI banned him for two years in 2020 for falsifying his age after playing U-19 cricket within a year of playing the hard ball. “It was a very dark phase. My family supported me because they understood that I could do something in my life by playing cricket. Former fast bowler Pradeep Sangwan from Delhi came to me and said he would coach me during that period. I quietly trained with him for two years and played cricket with a tennis ball. That’s why I was able to hit the ground running immediately after the ban ended,” recalls Prince.Prince is now in BCCI’s shortlist of targeted fast bowlers. He is seen as a potential who can take the Indian fast bowling forward. But for now, he is just happy to see his family happily watching him play cricket.
