[3][4] He started playing cricket under the guidance of his paternal uncle Vinod Kumar Yadav in Varanasi.

At the age of 10, he was enrolled in a cricket camp at BARC colony in Mumbai, coached by Ashok Kamat.

[11] Yadav captained the Mumbai team for a brief period during the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy season, before he was replaced midway into the tournament.

[15][16] The Mumbai team consisting of Yadav reached the second consecutive Ranji final in 2016–17 but lost to Gujarat.

[18] Yadav scored 241 runs with an average of over 40 in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy List A cricket tournament, which was won by Mumbai.

[26] Along with his commitments with the Mumbai team, he continued to play club cricket for Parsi Gymkhana.

[9][27] In February 2021, Yadav was named in the Indian Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the home series against England.

[29] In the fourth game of the series held on 18 March, he played his first innings as a batter and hit the first ball he faced in international cricket for a six, becoming the first Indian to do so in T20Is.

[31][32] He was named in Indian One Day International (ODI) squad for the subsequent series against England but did not play any matches.

[37] In July 2021, Yadav was called up as a replacement player to the Indian Test squad for the away series against England, but did not play a match.

[40][41] In November 2021, he was named in the Indian Test squad for their home series against New Zealand but was not selected in the playing XI for any of the games.

[34] In June 2022, Yadav part of the Indian squad for the T20I series against Ireland and the subsequent tour of England.

[49][50] In October 2022, Yadav played in the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia in which India reached the semi-finals.

[52] On 27 October 2022, he scored his first half-century at the T20 World Cup, reaching the mark in 25 balls against Netherlands at Sydney.

[57][58] In January 2023, he scored the second fastest century by an Indian batter in T20Is and the third of his career, reaching the mark in 45 balls against Sri Lanka at Rajkot.

[40][66] He was part of the Indian squad that won the 2023 Asia Cup but played only one game in the series in the loss to Bangladesh.

[71][72] After the World Cup, he was named as the captain of the Indian team for the home T20I series against Australia.

[79] In May 2024, Yadav was named in the Indian squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament.

[82] India went on to win the match by seven runs to lift their second T20 World Cup; they had last won the inaugural edition in 2007.

[86] He captained the Indian team that toured Sri Lanka for a three-match T20 series played at Pallekele in late July, which India won 3–0.

[95] He missed the start of the 2022 season due to injury and, on his return, scored 303 runs in eight matches at an average of more than 43.

[99][100] He played 11 games in the season and scored 345 runs including his second IPL century against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.