CHENNAI: During their game against RCB on Thursday, LSG’s right-arm pacer Prince Yadav produced a 140.4 kph delivery that nipped back sharply and went through the gate to crash Virat Kohli’s off stump. It was Kohli’s first IPL duck since 2023, and he was left visibly stunned.

LSG’s bowling coach Bharat Arun said such a delivery is not a matter of chance but of persistence and craft. “We even spoke about it with Kohli, and he asked, ‘how did he bowl that ball?’. It’s not a very common delivery. I don’t think any bowler can produce it at will but if you consistently work on your swing, it becomes possible. It was a dream delivery,” Arun said.

This is the 24-year-old Delhi bowler’s second IPL season. Last year, he played six games for LSG, picking up three wickets at an economy of 9.75. Arun said Prince had shown glimpses of what he could achieve in his debut season. “This year during the camps that we had, we discussed his strengths.

Under pressure, sometimes a bowler goes blank, but the one who is confident of executing his strengths is going to be most successful in execution. So, we had a lot of one-on-one chats during the pre-season camps, understood what their strengths are, and went about working on them. We challenged them every single session on execution,” he added.

Arun said his role was to help the youngsters build confidence and tell them where they need to improve. “It would be unfair to say I spotted Prince. But identifying what he could do by looking at him and placing him in the right role within the team was my challenge,” Arun said.