LSG pacer Prince Yadav says RCB fans praised him, not abused him, after he dismissed Virat Kohli for a two-ball duck in a 2026 IPL match in Lucknow. He made the claim on a podcast with former India cricketer Aakash Chopra, and he said the reaction came through his brother, not his own phone.

Players who remove Kohli usually brace for a flood of abuse online. Prince says that never arrived for him.

The delivery that ended Kohli’s innings early

RCB were chasing 213 when Prince struck early. He bowled Kohli with what was described as a beauty of a delivery, and the RCB legend was out for a two-ball duck.

The wicket was not the end of his day. Prince went on to pick up three wickets in that game, also dismissing Devdutt Padikkal and Jitesh Sharma. LSG won the match by a close margin of nine runs, and the bowler’s spell was a big reason why.

What the fans actually said

Prince did not open his own social media. His brother did, and what he found surprised them both. According to Prince, his brother told him that when other players dismiss Kohli, the star’s fans abuse them. Prince said he was spared that treatment.

“But for me, there was a soft corner. I did not get abused. There were only good things being said, like ‘being an RCB fan, very well bowled, what a delivery’ and such things.”

He was also clear that he is not active on Instagram: “I do not use Instagram,” he said on the podcast. The comments he heard, filtered through his brother, were the kind a bowler rarely gets after taking a wicket of this size.

A father who refused to get carried away

Prince’s reaction at home was just as measured. His father congratulated him after the Kohli wicket but told him to think about the next game.

“I spoke to my dad. He told me that the match is done and gone. You did well, but now focus on the next game. He does not get overexcited,” Prince said.

That approach, Prince explained, has been consistent for years. Each time he reached a new level, his father moved the goalposts. When Prince was playing IPL, his father would say so what, because he was not yet playing domestic cricket for Delhi. When Prince reached that domestic level, his father said he was not yet playing IPL. When he did play IPL, his father said he would only be satisfied when Prince played for India.

For a young bowler who had just removed one of the most followed players in the world, that kind of pressure at home is a reality check delivered without fanfare.

Railways, police and a career that almost went elsewhere

Cricket was not his father’s first choice for his son. Prince revealed that his father wanted a completely different career for him and hoped he would work in the Railways or the Police.

His father was not convinced cricket offered a future. Prince said his father felt everyone plays, the competition was intense, and he could not see how a cricket career would pay off. Prince also pointed to his own background: he was only playing tennis and not leather, which he believes is part of why his father was unconvinced.

So Prince filled out the form for the Delhi Police physical test because of his father. He cleared the physical. The written exam that followed was a different story. “But there was a written exam after that, and I did not give it,” he said.

The decision to skip that exam is the one that changed everything. Prince’s choice to stay in cricket turned out to be the right one, and the results have followed quickly.

From a police form to the Indian team

Prince made his IPL debut with LSG and his international debut soon after. So far he has played three ODIs and 11 T20Is for India. At the time of the podcast, he was with the Indian team in New Zealand.

The Kohli wicket now sits at the center of a story that is about more than one dismissal. It is about a bowler who expected the usual backlash and found the opposite, and about a father who kept the bar high even after his son reached the top level he once doubted.

Fans are often quick to turn on anyone who dismisses their favourite player. In this case, the reaction from RCB supporters, as Prince described it, looked very different. Whether that holds beyond one conversation is unclear from his account, but it is the detail that makes the story hard to ignore.