Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has put his weight behind Prince Yadav to play for India sooner rather than later after Lucknow Super Giants registered a nine-run win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Thursday.

Yadav got the big wicket of Virat Kohli when LSG were defending a DLS score of 213 runs on Thursday. Prince eventually returned with impressive figures of 3-33 in his quota of four overs and also accounted for Devdutt Padikkal and out-of-form Jitesh Sharma.

Yadav has scalped 16 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 18.68 and economy rate of 8.08 in the ongoing IPL 2026.

“Every prince wishes to become the king. However, you cannot become the king until you dismiss the king. He did that job. It was a dream delivery. Mitchell McClenaghan was on our English show, and he called it a divine delivery. The ball was going straight with the seam, it seemed like it would go out, and it came in just enough after pitching to miss the bat and hit the off-stump,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“That wasn’t his only wicket. After that, he dismissed Devdutt Padikkal, who is batting like a dream. Then he dismissed Jitesh Sharma. He picked up three wickets. The boy is a genius. He will play for India very soon. There is no doubt about that,” he added.

On the other hand, Chopra also praised Shahbaz Ahmed for bowling the crucial overs for LSG. The left-arm orthodox spinner returned with figures of 2-33 in his four overs and accounted for Tim David and Rajat Patidar.

“Shahbaz bowled extremely important overs. Shahbaz was brilliant. He picked up two wickets while conceding 33 runs in three overs, and one of the wickets was Tim David’s. When he had started hitting sixes, we said the job was done. Tim David had made it gully cricket, but Shahbaz dismissed him,” he said.

Lucknow Super Giants will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Sunday.