Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Praful Hinge had a sensational IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals, becoming the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in his opening over. He finished with figures of 4/18, dismantling the RR top order with a fiery spell and making an immediate impact while also highlighting his inspiring journey to the IPL.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Praful Hinge stole the limelight with his fiery spell in the opening over of his IPL debut against the Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday, April 13.
Praful Hinge was handed his maiden IPL cap by the SRH management, marking his debut in the cash-rich T20 league in the world. He replaced experienced pacer Jaydev Unadkat in the playing XI, as confirmed by SRH stand-in captain Ishan Kishan at the toss, as Sunrisers Hyderabad looked to add fresh pace options to their bowling attack for the crucial clash against Rajasthan Royals.
The hosts were put into bat first by the RR captain Riyan Parag, and Ishan Kishan’s fiery 91-run knock and vital contributions from Heinrich Klaasen (40), Nitish Kumar Reddy (28), and Salil Arora (24*) powered Sunrisers Hyderabad to a solid total of 216/6 in 20 overs, despite early setbacks.
Related Articles
Also Read: IPL 2026: Abhishek Sharma gets unwanted record for most ducks in a year
Praful Hinge Stuns RR Batting Line-Up
Praful Hinge’s maiden IPL match against the Rajasthan Royals wasn’t just a dream start, but also turned out to be an instant impact performance as the young pacer made early inroads, rattling the visitors’ top-order of the batting line-up.
On the second ball of the SRH’s opening over, Praful Hinge dismissed the dangerous Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for a golden duck before removing another in-form batter, Dhruv Jurel, for a two-ball duck, giving Sunrisers Hyderabad a dream start and putting immediate pressure on the Rajasthan Royals’ batting lineup.
On the final ball of his opening spell, Hinge removed Lhuan-dre Pretorius for a two-ball duck, completing a dream debut over and putting SRH firmly on top early in the match. With three wickets in an over. Praful Hinge became the first bowler to achieve this feat in the history of the Indian Premier League.
Hinge didn’t stop there after the dream opening spell on his IPL debut. The Vidarbha pacer returned to remove the Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag for just 4 runs, continuing his sensational impact in the match.
In his spell of the first three overs, Praful Hinge registered figures of 4/18 at an economy rate of 6, delivering a match-defining performance on his IPL debut and dismantling the Rajasthan Royals’ batting lineup. Moreover, he joined the likes of Pat Cummins, Deepak Chahar, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Shami, and Ishant Sharma to take four wickets in the
Who is Praful Hinge?
Praful Hinge comes from a humble family residing in Nagpur, Vidharbha district of Maharashtra. Hinge’s father, Prakash Hinge, works at a state electricity board. Despite financial constraints, Praful’s father encourage to take up cricket after seeing his passion for the sport.
Praful Hinge initially started his cricketing journey as a batter, but upon the suggestion of his father, he switched to pace bowling, which eventually shaped his career. The young Vidarbha pacer has also trained at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai since 2022 and was also part of a 15-day camp in Brisbane.
Interestingly, Hinge trained under the tutelage of Varun Aaron, who happens to be SRH’s fast bowling coach, at the MRF Pace Foundation. Praful represents Vidarbha in domestic cricket and made his first-class debut in a Ranji Trophy match against Puducherry in October 2024. In January last year, the Vidarbha pacer made his List A debut in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Mizoram.
Praful Hinge was one of the key players in Vidadbha’s maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph in the last season, picking five wickets at an average of 56 and an economy rate of 6.0 in five matches. At the IPL 2026 mini-auction last year, Praful received his first league contract after he was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad for his base price of INR 30 lakh.
Also Read: IPL 2026: Finn Allen on Shane Watson's 'world of knowledge' for KKR
