Data Shorts: Prince Yadav's versatility stands out in LSG's lackluster campaign

An absolute jaffa that castled Virat Kohli for a rare duck. A miserly double-wicket over when a 95-run stand threatened to take the game away. The batters dismissed: Devdutt Padikkal and Jitesh Sharma. To cap it off, a decent penultimate over against Romario Shepherd.

Prince Yadav's brilliance against RCB wasn't an anomaly, but a consistent feature and the biggest positive in LSG's otherwise dismal run. With 16 scalps, he's the joint second-highest wicket taker in IPL 2026. Of the 22 seamers to have delivered at least 25 overs, he has the second-best average (18.68) and the third best economy rate (8.08).

He has the most even split of overs across three junctures: 37.8% with the new ball, 29.8% in the middle and 32.4% at death.

Prince Yadav by phases in IPL 2026

The overall economy rate for the season in the three phases has been 9.87, 9.2 and 10.54 respectively. With the new ball, 73.8% of his deliveries have been at good length or back-of-a-length, giving returns of 6/67 (ER: 6.5). He's got movement both ways: 3/22 with the inswinger, including the one to breach Kohli's defence, and 2/30 with the one going away.

In the middle-phase, hard lengths have done maximum damage: 4/20 (ER: 5.7). Both Padikkal and Jitesh were undone by deliveries in that zone. At the back end, he leans more towards full – 46% compared to 20% across the first 15 – the 17 yorkers executed successfully going at exactly run-a-ball.

He has eight wickets each at home and away at almost identical strike-rates, the economy in away games rising to 9 from 7.21. He has impressive economy rates against both left-handers (8.57) and right-handers (7.78).

With Prince leading the way, LSG have had a significant upgrade in their seam bowling numbers from last season. Mohammed Shami has four first-over wickets in IPL 2026, Prince has had three while bowling the second over. Friday saw the first instance of RCB losing their first two wickets for less than 10 runs since 2023. It was also the first time the defending champions were restricted to a sub-50 score in the first six overs in IPL 2026.

LSG seamers across IPL 2025 and 2026 (ranked among 10 teams)

LSG were a destructive, top-heavy batting unit in IPL 2025, but the seamers endured a miserable run. While the latter has been redeemed, constant changes in the batting order have led to a massive dip. With four games to go, LSG mathematically remain in contention for the playoffs. For now, the seam attack, led by Prince, keeps the bowling department in good stead.