Prince Yadav bowls Kohli for rare IPL chase duck

One ball at 140.4 kmph can change the mood of an entire stadium.

Virat Kohli walked in as the man RCB trust most in a chase. Two balls later, he was walking back for 0, his off stump flattened by a sharp inswinger.

For a player known as cricket’s chase master, this was not just another dismissal. It was his first duck while chasing in the IPL since 2017. That is 9 years of rare control, broken by one young fast bowler with a brave plan.

Prince Yadav finds the perfect ball

Prince Yadav did not need a long spell to announce himself. In the second over, he got the ball to swing back late at serious pace.

Kohli read it wrong. The ball came in, beat the bat, and hit the off stump. No edge, no soft dismissal, no confusion. Just a clean fast bowler’s wicket.

That matters in cricket. A batter can forgive himself for a mistimed shot. But getting bowled early in a chase leaves a mark, especially when the batter is Kohli.

The delivery also gave Prince a place in a very small IPL list. Since Dhawal Kulkarni in the 2016 season, he became only the second bowler to dismiss Kohli for 0 in this fashion in IPL records cited after the match.

For a young bowler, that is the kind of wicket which travels fast. Selectors notice it. Coaches remember it. Dressing rooms talk about it.

Marsh sets up Lucknow’s charge

Lucknow Super Giants had already put pressure on RCB before Kohli faced that ball. Rain kept interrupting their innings, and the match came down to 19 overs a side.

Even with those breaks, Lucknow posted 209. In a shortened match, that is a heavy target. It asks the chasing side to attack almost from ball one.

Mitchell Marsh gave Lucknow the base and the muscle. He made 111, a proper power innings that shaped the match. Nicholas Pooran added 38, while captain Rishabh Pant stayed unbeaten on 32.

That mix worked well for Lucknow. Marsh did the big hitting. Pooran kept the pace alive. Pant gave the innings a calm finish.

RCB’s bowlers did take wickets, but not enough to control the scoring. Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Rasik Salam Dar picked up 1 wicket each. Still, Lucknow kept finding boundaries at the right time.

The DLS method then entered the picture because of the rain. For many fans, DLS can feel like a maths exam dropped into a cricket match. In simple terms, it adjusts targets when overs are lost.

Here, Lucknow eventually won by 9 runs under DLS. That margin looks small, but in a rain-hit game, every dot ball starts to feel bigger.

RCB’s chase loses early shape

RCB’s chase began badly. The opening pair was gone with only 9 on the board. Losing Kohli so early made the chase feel heavier than the scoreboard alone suggested.

Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal then pulled RCB back into the contest. Their 95-run stand for the third wicket gave the innings a proper spine.

Patidar, the captain, had to manage two jobs at once. He had to score quickly and stop panic from spreading. Padikkal gave him the support RCB badly needed.

But T20 chases can turn quickly. Once Patidar fell, RCB started losing wickets in a cluster. That broke their rhythm at the worst possible time.

Tim David still gave the chase one last push. His 40 off 17 balls brought the match alive again. He hit with the urgency RCB needed.

But the early damage stayed in the chase. When a side loses its best chaser for 0, everyone else has to bat slightly outside their comfort zone. That is where pressure quietly wins games.

A young bowler changes the script

Prince finished with 3 wickets, and Shahbaz Ahmed took 2. Those numbers tell the story of Lucknow’s bowling effort better than any loud celebration.

The big headline will naturally be Kohli’s duck. That is how Indian cricket works. When Kohli falls early, the whole match gets viewed through that moment.

But the deeper story is about Lucknow’s discipline. They had runs on the board, yes. Yet defending a high total against RCB still needs nerve.

Prince gave them that nerve. His first breakthrough removed RCB’s emotional centre. His later wickets helped stop the chase from becoming Tim David’s night.

This is why IPL performances matter so much for younger Indian players. One good spell can move a name from scorecard footnote to national conversation.

For Kohli, this will sting, but not define his season. The source of attention is his standard, not his failure. He has made chases look routine for so long that one duck feels like a public event.

That is the strange weight of greatness. Ordinary batters get out for 0 and move on quietly. Kohli does it, and the innings becomes a reference point.

RCB will look at this match and see several small leaks. The bowling allowed 209 in 19 overs. The chase lost both openers for 9. The middle order could not protect the Patidar-Padikkal repair job.

Lucknow will see something more useful. They found a match-winner in Marsh, control in the middle overs, and a young bowler brave enough to attack Kohli’s stumps.

For fans, this was the IPL at its sharpest. Rain, DLS, a century, a rare Kohli duck, and a 9-run finish. It had all the chaos that keeps people checking scores at dinner tables and office desks.

RCB’s campaign will not be judged by one ball. But one ball can still reveal plenty. On this night, Lucknow looked clear in plan and calm under pressure. RCB, for all their batting power, learnt again that a chase can go cold before it truly begins.