Prince Yadav

Prince Yadav (born June 10, 1996) didn’t grow up in a cricket academy. Until he was 17, he played almost entirely in the local tennis-ball circuit around Dariyapur Khurd, a village near Najafgarh on Delhi’s western edge. His father, a retired Railways Police Force officer who farmed wheat to support the family, would rather have had him studying or helping around the house. Cricket wasn’t the plan.

From tennis-ball tournaments to professional pace

What those years gave him was pace and a yorker. Bowling fast with a tennis ball asks a lot. There’s no seam to do the work for you, and the format rewards bowlers who can land it full. Prince bowled those overs for years before anyone put a red ball in his hand.

Former Delhi cricketer Lalit Yadav was the one who saw what the raw pace could turn into. He convinced Prince to join an academy, and the move to red-ball bowling followed from there. The yorker came with him.

The two-year ban

In late 2019, the BCCI banned him for two years for submitting a birth certificate that listed 1996 as 2001. The ban landed just as he was beginning to get noticed on the local circuit.

He used the time to train with former Delhi pacer Pradeep Sangwan and kept playing tennis-ball cricket to stay sharp. When the ban was lifted, he didn’t ease back in. First-class debut for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy came in January 2024, with decent runs in the Delhi Premier League and Vijay Hazare Trophy following soon after.

Making a mark in the IPL

Time spent as a net bowler with IPL franchises helped keep him visible. Lucknow Super Giants took him in the 2025 auction for his base price of ₹30 lakh.

His first big IPL wicket was Travis Head, bowled in his debut season. The 2026 season was more complete, under the LSG coaching staff, he added swing and slower balls to what had previously been a pace-and-yorker operation. His 3/32 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru got the headlines, but the more interesting thing about 2026 was how rarely he looked out of place, regardless of the situation.

Team India call-up

The selectors had been watching. His 2026 IPL form ended the wait. A maiden ODI call-up for the home series against Afghanistan came first. T20I squad inclusion for the England and Ireland tours followed shortly after.

His father used to chase him away from cricket. These days, the family watches him play in blue.