Prince Yadav stuns RCB as Kohli falls for rare duck

For 9 years, Virat Kohli had avoided this tiny, cruel score while chasing in the IPL. Then one ball from Prince Yadav arrived at 140.4 kmph, bent in sharply, and took his off-stump with it.

That was the moment the match changed its temperature. RCB were chasing 209 in 19 overs, Kohli was their safest bet, and suddenly the safest bet had walked back for 0.

It was not just a wicket. It was a reminder that T20 cricket respects no reputation, however grand.

Prince Yadav gets the big one

The second over had barely begun when Prince Yadav produced the ball of his young IPL life. Kohli misread the line, played down the wrong path, and the ball crashed into the stumps.

For a bowler, there are wickets. Then there is Kohli for a duck in a chase. That sits in another drawer altogether.

The number matters because Kohli is not just another top-order batter. He is the IPL’s great chaser, the man teams fear most when a target sits on the board.

Since 2017, he had not been out for 0 while chasing in the IPL. That streak ended in Lucknow’s favour, and it ended brutally.

There was another sharp stat attached to the wicket. Since Dhawal Kulkarni in 2016, Prince became only the second bowler in IPL history to dismiss Kohli for a duck.

For a young seamer, that is the kind of line that follows you for years. It does not make a career by itself, but it opens doors.

Marsh sets up Lucknow’s charge

Before the chase became the story, Lucknow Super Giants had already done serious damage with the bat. Rain kept interrupting their innings, and the match was reduced to 19 overs a side.

That usually hurts batting rhythm. Mitchell Marsh treated it like a minor scheduling issue.

Marsh smashed 111, giving Lucknow the kind of innings that allows everyone else to bat around him. He did not merely score fast. He gave the innings shape.

Nicholas Pooran added 38, while captain Rishabh Pant stayed unbeaten on 32. Together, they pushed Lucknow to a heavy 209-run target.

For context, 209 in 19 overs means the chasing side needs more than 11 runs an over from the start. There is no warm-up period. There is no time to settle.

RCB’s bowlers had a mixed night. Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, and Rasikh Salam Dar took 1 wicket each, but Lucknow still got away.

That is often how these T20 games slip. A wicket here or there looks useful on paper, but one big innings can flatten the whole bowling card.

RCB fight, then lose control

RCB’s chase began badly, and Kohli’s wicket made it worse. Their opening pair returned with only 9 on the board.

That kind of start forces the middle order to play two games at once. They must rebuild, but they must also keep scoring fast.

Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal gave RCB a real route back. Their 95-run stand for the third wicket steadied the innings and brought belief back.

Patidar, leading the side, had to balance responsibility with urgency. Padikkal had to make sure the chase did not freeze after Kohli’s early exit.

For a while, they did exactly that. RCB looked alive again, and Lucknow had to think beyond the early breakthrough.

But T20 chases often turn on the wicket after the partnership. Once Patidar fell, RCB lost rhythm and then lost wickets in a hurry.

The scoreboard pressure returned like a debt collector. Every dot ball grew louder. Every boundary became necessary rather than useful.

Tim David still gave RCB hope with a fierce 40 off 17 balls. That innings had the right kind of violence for a steep chase.

But it came with too much left to repair. Lucknow held their nerve and won by 9 runs through the DLS method.

DLS is the rain rule used in limited-overs cricket. It adjusts targets when weather reduces playing time or interrupts an innings.

Why this result matters

This result will sting RCB because the game was not lost by one bad shot alone. It was lost in small bursts across both innings.

Lucknow scored too many despite rain breaks. RCB lost both openers too early. The middle-order stand revived them, but the collapse after Patidar hurt badly.

That is the harsh arithmetic of modern T20 cricket. You can play 10 good overs and still lose if the other 9 go missing.

For Kohli, the duck will make headlines because his numbers invite headlines. When he scores heavily, the story writes itself. When he fails, the silence feels louder.

But one rare failure does not change his standing as a chase master. It does show how teams now attack him with pace, movement, and no ceremony.

For Prince Yadav, this match offers something different. He did not just take 3 wickets. He took the wicket that shaped the evening.

That matters inside dressing rooms and selection meetings. Captains remember bowlers who can hit the top order early. Coaches remember bowlers who do not blink at famous names.

Lucknow will also value the balance in this win. Marsh gave them the headline innings, Pooran and Pant supplied support, and Prince gave them the decisive early punch.

RCB, meanwhile, must decide how much concern to attach to this chase. Their batting still showed depth, but the start left them chasing the chase itself.

For fans, the lesson is familiar but never dull. In the IPL, even the biggest names get one ball. Sometimes that ball is a 140.4 kmph inswinger, and the whole night turns on it.