Prince Yadav stuns Kohli with rare IPL chase duck

One ball at 140.4 kmph can make even a giant look human.

For most of this IPL season, Virat Kohli had looked like the old chase machine again. Then Prince Yadav, a young Lucknow bowler, ran in and sent down a sharp inswinger. Kohli misread it. The off stump flew. The ground went quiet.

That duck did more than hurt Royal Challengers Bengaluru early in a big chase. It also gave Kohli an unwanted first since 2017. For the first time in 9 years, he was out for 0 while chasing in the IPL.

Prince Yadav gets his Kohli moment

Cricket remembers these scenes because they are so simple.

A young fast bowler runs in. A great batter expects one thing. The ball does another. In a blink, the contest changes.

Prince Yadav’s delivery came in at 140.4 kmph. It moved back sharply and beat Kohli’s read completely. This was not a soft dismissal or a loose shot. It was a proper fast bowler’s wicket.

For Kohli, the timing was brutal. RCB were chasing a steep target against Lucknow Super Giants. Losing him in the second over meant the chase lost its most trusted guide almost before it began.

That is why this wicket mattered beyond the scorecard. Kohli has built a career on controlling chases. He absorbs pressure, counts risk, and makes totals feel smaller. When he goes early, everyone else suddenly has to bat one place higher in responsibility.

There was also a statistical sting. Since Dhawal Kulkarni in the 2016 IPL season, Prince became only the second bowler to dismiss Kohli for a duck in this specific IPL context. For a young bowler, that is not just a wicket. It is a visiting card.

Marsh sets up Lucknow’s charge

Lucknow’s win did not come only from one famous wicket.

Before Prince shook RCB, Mitchell Marsh had already shaped the match with a fierce 111. In a rain-hit game cut to 19 overs a side, that innings gave Lucknow the kind of total that makes chasing teams uncomfortable from ball one.

Lucknow finished with a target of 209 in 19 overs. In plain terms, RCB needed to score at nearly 11 runs an over. That is possible in modern T20 cricket, but only if the top order stays calm and keeps wickets in hand.

Marsh did the heavy lifting. Nicholas Pooran added 38, while captain Rishabh Pant stayed unbeaten on 32. Those knocks gave Lucknow both power and insurance. Even when rain interrupted the innings, they did not let the tempo fall away.

For RCB, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Rasik Salam Dar took 1 wicket each. But they could not stop Lucknow from reaching a total that demanded near-perfect batting under pressure.

This is where shortened matches become tricky. A 19-over chase sounds only slightly different from a 20-over chase. But that 1 over changes the maths. Batters get less time to settle. Bowlers know every dot ball bites harder.

The DLS result later confirmed Lucknow’s 9-run win. DLS is the rain rule cricket uses to adjust targets when overs are lost. Fans may argue with it often, but in this case the larger truth was clear. Lucknow had made enough runs, then took enough wickets.

RCB fight back, then fade

RCB’s chase began in the worst possible way.

Their openers were gone with only 9 on the board. Kohli’s duck was the emotional blow. The second early wicket made it a structural problem. A chase of 209 does not forgive that kind of start.

Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal then repaired the innings with a 95-run stand for the third wicket. It was the kind of partnership that keeps a dressing room believing. They did not just block. They brought RCB back into the contest.

But T20 chases often turn on one dismissal. Once Patidar fell, RCB lost rhythm. The middle order could not build another steady phase. Wickets kept falling, and the asking rate kept climbing.

Tim David tried to drag the chase back with 40 from just 17 balls. That innings had the right idea. Swing hard, clear the rope, make the fielding side panic. For a brief spell, Lucknow had to work again.

But late hitting can only cover so much damage. When a side loses its anchor early and then keeps losing wickets, the finish becomes a scramble. RCB ended close, but not close enough.

Prince Yadav finished with 3 wickets. Shahbaz Ahmed took 2. Those figures tell the second half of Lucknow’s story. Marsh gave them the runs. Prince and Shahbaz made sure those runs did not leak away.

Why this duck will sting

A duck happens to every batter. Even the very best have walked back before scoring.

But some ducks carry more noise. Kohli’s dismissal will sting because it came in a chase, his favourite setting. It came when RCB needed a senior hand. It came in a season where he had been scoring heavily.

That contrast is why fans react so strongly. When a struggling batter fails, people shrug. When Kohli fails in a chase, it feels like a cricketing rule has been broken.

For RCB supporters, the concern is not one score of 0. The bigger question is how much the side still depends on Kohli’s control in difficult chases. Patidar and Padikkal showed fight. Tim David showed punch. But RCB still looked less settled without Kohli steering the innings.

For Lucknow, this win says something useful about their balance. They had a centurion, finishing runs from Pant, and wickets from a young fast bowler. In a long IPL season, that mix matters. Teams do not survive only on star names. They need new match-winners to arrive without warning.

Prince’s spell will now be watched closely. Indian cricket loves a young quick who can move the ball at pace. One good night does not make a career, but dismissing Kohli like that gets attention in every selection room and every franchise meeting.

The match also reminds us why the IPL remains so addictive. A champion batter can dominate for weeks, then lose his off stump to a youngster in the second over. A team can look buried, then find hope through one partnership. A rain rule can sit in the background, while the real drama still comes down to nerve.

For ordinary fans, that is the sport’s old bargain. You turn on the television expecting Kohli to chase down another mountain. Instead, you watch a young bowler announce himself. The points table will move on, but Prince Yadav’s 140.4 kmph ball will stay in memory longer than most scorecards.