Prince Yadav bowls Kohli for rare IPL chase duck

A 140.4 kph ball can make even a full stadium forget how to breathe.

That is what happened when Prince Yadav bent one back into Virat Kohli and hit the off-stump. Kohli, the great chaser, had gone for 0. Not a scratched 0. Not a soft catch. Bowled, beaten, and gone.

For Royal Challengers Bengaluru, it was the kind of early blow that changes a chase before it has properly begun. For Lucknow Super Giants, it was the moment belief entered the field.

Kohli’s rare chasing failure

Kohli’s dismissal mattered because of who he is, and when it came.

In IPL cricket, he has built a reputation on chases. He reads targets like a banker reads ledgers. He knows when to wait, when to push, and when to punish.

This time, he had no time to settle. In the second over, Prince Yadav sent down a sharp inswinger at 140.4 kph. Kohli misread the movement, and the ball crashed into off-stump.

It was his first duck while chasing in the IPL since 2017. That is not just a stat. It tells you how rarely Kohli gives teams this kind of opening.

The dismissal also carried another small sting. After Dhawal Kulkarni in the 2016 IPL season, Prince became only the second bowler listed to dismiss Kohli for 0 in this manner of IPL context.

For a young bowler, that is the sort of wicket that follows you for years. For Kohli, it was a rare public slip in a season where he had otherwise been scoring heavily.

Marsh turns rain into pressure

Lucknow’s win did not come from one ball alone. Their batting gave Prince and the bowlers enough room to attack.

Rain kept interrupting Lucknow’s innings. The match was reduced to 19 overs per side, which usually makes batting tricky. Players have to restart their rhythm after breaks. Bowlers get time to think.

Mitchell Marsh handled it better than anyone else. He made 111, a big innings in a shortened game. In simple terms, he gave Lucknow the kind of score that forces panic in the other dressing room.

Nicholas Pooran added 38, giving the innings the muscle it needed. Captain Rishabh Pant stayed unbeaten on 32, making sure the finish did not fade.

Lucknow reached 209 in 19 overs. That is a heavy chase even on a good batting pitch. With rain around, it becomes even harder, because DLS calculations sit in every player’s head.

For RCB, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, and Rasikh Salam Dar took 1 wicket each. But Lucknow had already done the damage. The target had crossed the psychological line.

RCB fight back, then fade

A chase of 209 needs a clean start. RCB got the opposite.

Their opening pair was back with only 9 on the board. Kohli’s wicket was the headline, but the early double blow left the middle order with too much repair work.

Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal then did what good players do. They calmed the innings and stitched together a 95-run stand for the third wicket.

For a while, the match had a familiar RCB shape. A poor start, a recovery, and then a late charge waiting somewhere in the dugout.

But once Patidar fell, the chase began to wobble. One wicket became another. The required rate climbed. Lucknow’s fielders suddenly looked sharper, as fielding sides often do when the scoreboard is helping them.

Tim David tried to drag RCB back. His 40 came from only 17 balls, and it gave the match a late spark. In T20 cricket, that kind of hitting can turn a lost cause into a nervous finish.

But RCB ran out of control at the wrong time. Lucknow won by 9 runs through DLS, a margin that will hurt because RCB did have a way back.

Prince Yadav grabs the spotlight

Prince Yadav finished with 3 wickets, and his spell did more than fill a scorecard.

Young Indian fast bowlers often wait for one visible moment. A ball that people replay. A wicket that selectors notice. A spell that tells the league, here is someone worth tracking.

This was that sort of evening for Prince.

Bowling to Kohli early in a chase is not easy. Bowl too full, and he drives. Bowl too straight, and he clips. Miss your length, and the pressure comes straight back.

Prince did not miss. His inswinger was fast, full of purpose, and good enough to beat one of the best white-ball batters of this era.

Shahbaz Ahmed also played his part with 2 wickets. That mattered because one great ball rarely wins a T20 match by itself. Teams need repeat pressure, especially against a batting side like RCB.

Lucknow found that pressure through different phases. Marsh set it up with the bat. Prince gave them the dream start. Shahbaz and the rest kept asking RCB to take risks.

What this result says

For Lucknow, this was more than 2 points. It showed a side that could handle a broken, rain-hit match and still stay clear in thought.

Marsh’s hundred gave them authority. Pant’s unbeaten hand gave them finish. Prince’s spell gave them the story.

For RCB, the concern is not just Kohli’s duck. Great players get out early. That is cricket. The bigger issue is how much the chase still depends on a few big names controlling the mood.

Patidar and Padikkal showed fight. David showed power. But a 209 chase needs more than bursts. It needs one batter to own the night for longer.

That is where Kohli usually enters the picture. When he falls early, RCB must find another centre of gravity. On this night, they found one briefly, then lost it.

The IPL is cruel that way. One ball becomes a headline. One rain break changes rhythm. One partnership gives hope, and one collapse takes it away.

For ordinary fans, especially those who plan their evenings around RCB games, this was a reminder of why T20 is so addictive and so maddening. Even the safest script can tear in the second over.

Kohli will almost certainly bat like this never happened. That has been his way for years. But Prince Yadav will remember the sound of that off-stump for a long time. And Lucknow will hope this win becomes more than a night of surprise, they will want it to become a pattern.