IPL 2026: Why Virat Kohli Stared at Pitch After Prince Yadav Bowled Him? Ex-India Batter Explains

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli was dismissed for a duck by LSG pacer Prince Yadav, ending a 1,110-day streak. Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar analyzed Kohli's stunned reaction, drawing a parallel to Sachin Tendulkar and explaining it as a sign of a great batter's immense self-confidence.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star batter Virat Kohli recorded his first IPL duck since 2023 after he was clean bowled by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Prince Yadav during their IPL 2026 clash at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Thursday, May 7.

Prince might have picked three wickets in LSG’s nine-run win over RCB, but he stole the spotlight with an outswing delivery that nipped back sharper to breach Kohli's defense and uproot the off-stump. As the young LSG pacer celebrated ecstatically by pumping his fist in the air, Kohli stood there at the crease like a statue, staring at the pitch for a few seconds before walking back to the pavilion.

The RCB star batter was visibly stunned by Prince’s unplayable delivery that nipped back sharply to pierce between the bat and pad at a pace of 140.4 kph.

Prince Yadav’s dismissal of Virat Kohli was one of the biggest talking points from the match, as it ended Kohli's 1,110-day streak without an IPL duck, and the young LSG pacer’s deadly 140.4 kph nip-backer left the RCB star completely puzzled over the unpredictability of the seam movement.

The ‘Sachin-esque’ Reaction

When Virat Kohli was bowled out by Prince Yadav, the RCB star batter was spotted briefly looking at the pitch, seemingly analysing how the ball behaved and why it managed to beat him. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar provided an interesting perspective on the dismissal, drawing a direct parallel between Kohli’s reaction and that of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

“Virat Kohli getting clean bowled by Prince Yadav gives me a great insight into a champion batter's mind. It was the same with Tendulkar. It's not so much about how we got out. Look at Virat's reaction when he gets out. The moment he gets out, he looks down at the pitch as if something untoward has happened. The pitch has played some trick on him,” Manjrekar said in a video posted on his Instagram handle.

“Tendulkar did that too, more so towards the end of his career; he would look down at the pitch and would think that the ball had kept low. And, you know, something wrong happened there. So what is happening here? The moment there is a little setback like that, they aren't immediately looking within or being self-critical.

“They're looking at other reasons apart from themselves. for what happened. And that, interestingly, is the trait of a great batter, because they've had such tremendous success over the years, their self-confidence is very high. So when they have a moment like this, that self-confidence doesn't dip quickly,” he added.

During his playing days, Sachin Tendulkar would often look down at the pitch and tap it with his bat to investigate the hidden crack or a patch of uneven bounce that might have caused the ball to behave unexpectedly. Oftentimes, many batters would look at the pitch and try to find a fault in it to convince themselves that it wasn’t their mistake but the pitch’s.

Confidence Separates the Great from the Good

Further speaking on Virat Kohli’s reaction to Prince Yadav’s delivery, Manjrekar explained that such a reaction often separates a great batter from an ordinary one, as it highlights a level of self-confidence that "lesser mortals" simply do not possess.

“With lesser mortals, when something like this happens, the self-confidence gets shattered. They think, oh, dear, too slow and not a good enough player to defend that ball. Great batters will instinctively find another reason because their faith in their own ability is so high,” the former India batter said.

“And that is one reason why great batters are great as opposed to lesser mortals, who lose their confidence easily. So one big difference between a great player and a not-so-great player is that the great players handle their failures a lot better than the lesser player.

“And we saw in that reaction of Virat, and Sachin Tendulkar’s reaction in the past, that instinct is an important trait to be great,” he concluded.

Virat Kohli’s dismissal to Prince Yadav was not just a momentary shock for the star batter, but also a reminder of the fine margins in cricket, where even the best can be undone by pace, seam, and precision.