Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) Prince Yadav bowled an incisive opening spell in the IPL 2026 game against the Delhi Capitals on April 1, Wednesday at the Ekana International Stadium. The right-arm speedster notably cleaned up Delhi Capitals’ captain Axar Patel with an almost unplayable delivery to break the game open as the Super Giants made a brilliant start in their defence of a modest 142.
Who is Prince Yadav?
With IPL being a platform where talent meets opportunity, Yadav is into his second season, coming on the back of a promising edition in 2025. Coming from Dariyapur Khurd, small village near Najafgarh, his father reportedly had a wish that he studied for a long time and landed a secure job like his sister. However, cricket became his calling as he reportedly wasn’t quite interested in academics. Ahead of IPL 2025, the Lucknow Super Giants acquired him for a sum of ₹30 lakh. Although he showed plenty of promise, the 24-year-old wasn’t able to convert it in the form of wickets, finishing only with three in six matches, averaging a woeful 75 alongside an economy rate of 9.85. The maiden IPL deal came on the back of 11 wickets in eight games at the 2024-25 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. But Yadav snaffled only eight scalps in seven games in the 2025-26 edition for Delhi.
Prince Yadav could be the X-factor for Lucknow Super Giants. 🔥
Big praise from coach Justin Langer — one to watch this season! 👀🏏— Siya 🧢 (@Siya18457) April 1, 2026
Prince Yadav ❌. Curtly Ambrose ✅ pic.twitter.com/7wfvZ2vUpK
— Shahzad. (@TsMeShahzad) April 1, 2026
Prince Yadav now has Bharat Arun as his bowling coach… Hopefully 🤞🏻
Ignore CSK, they are no longer the optimal place for pacers now. https://t.co/YlBe6r36ib— RK (@nani22b) April 1, 2026
Prince Yadav is the closest thing we have got to Bumrah since Bumrah.
Hopefully they fast track him. He will learn on the road.— kirketView (@KirketView2989) April 1, 2026
Nevertheless, the right-arm pacer will look to continue his momentum after beginning IPL 2026 on a massively positive note. Yadav bowled an economical first over, giving away only seven runs but claimed the wickets of Pathum Nissanka (1) and Axar Patel (0) to ram the door open for LSG’s comeback after a substandard batting performance.
Prince Yadav almost gets into a verbal war with Tristan Stubbs
Yadav also got into a slight verbal tussle with Capitals’ batter Tristan Stubbs as the two exchanged some words after the right-arm pacer stared the South African batter.
𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙞𝙣… 𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞 𝙘𝙝𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙞 𝙘𝙝𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙞 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙧𝙖𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙞 𝙧𝙚𝙝𝙩𝙞 𝙝𝙖𝙞 😉🔥
Things getting spicy in the middle 🌶️😏Bhojpuri ka asli mazza sirf JioHotstar par dekhiye! 🎉#TATAIPL 2026 | #LSGvDC | LIVE NOW 👉… pic.twitter.com/PKSx9UroQ7
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 1, 2026
It was the Capitals, who had won the toss and opted to bowl first as Axar cited the reason behind it due to being a fresh wicket. However, only Abdul Samad (36) and Mitchell Marsh (35) went past 30 runs as the hosts failed to bat in a sensible manner. For the Capitals, Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan was the pick of the bowlers with three scalps each.
