Heading into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 fixture between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Royals, all the chatter was about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and how the 15-year-old would decimate the Hyderabad bowling attack, which had flattered to deceive in the previous few matches. However, a debutant pacer, Praful Hinge, who hails from Vidarbha, managed to achieve something which even Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood failed to do. The 24-year-old tearaway quick dismissed Sooryavanshi for a golden duck, leaving the Rajasthan opener shell-shocked. The tall pacer delivered a fast bouncer, beating the young batter for pace, and Sooryavanshi only managed to get a top-edge, which was pouched safely by wicketkeeper Salil Arora.
However, the happy things didn’t stop there for Praful, who was slated to make his debut in the previous match against the Punjab Kings. In his opening over, the pacer scalped three wickets – dismissing Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius. Praful became the first bowler in the history of the IPL to scalp three wickets in the opening over of a batting innings.
Praful was eventually adjudged as Player of the Match for his sensational performance, where he broke the back of Rajasthan’s batting inside the powerplay. During his chat with Murali Karthik, Hinge revealed that he wanted to dismiss Sooryavanshi with a bouncer and achieved exactly that.
“I enjoyed Sooryavanshi’s wicket because he is in form. Maine 2-3 logo ko bata ke rakha tha ki main isko pehli ball pe bouncer dalke out karunga. Mujhe bas isko out karna tha pehle ball pe. (I told 2-3 people that I would bowl a bouncer straight up to him and get his wicket. I just wanted to dismiss him on the opening ball),” said Hinge.
Hinge eventually finished with figures of 4/34 and was ably supported by another debutant, Sakib Hussain, who himself took four wickets, returning with a spell of 4/24. Hinge revealed that he manifested performing like this on his IPL debut and then dedicated the award to his family.
“I thought about it last year. I wrote it, that I would take four or five wickets in my opening match. I manifested about dominating the powerplay. I truly believe in the power of manifestation,” said Hinge.
“I started playing cricket at the age of 13. At that time, I didn’t know much. When I was 13, I told my father that I wanted to join the club and play cricket. I want to dedicate this award to my family, who have made many sacrifices for me. “Varun Aaron bhai (bowling coach) helped me a lot,” he added.
What happened in the match?
The fixture between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals started with Riyan winning the toss and opting to bowl. The visitors got off to a fantastic start after Abhishek went back to the hut for a duck on the opening ball of the contest.
Ishan Kishan then played a captain’s knock, scoring 91 runs to help Sunrisers post 216/6 in the allotted twenty overs. The two debutant pacers, Praful and Sakib Hussain, then rocked the Royals, both taking four wickets each, helping the Hyderabad franchise get back to winning ways in the IPL 2026 season.
It is worth noting that Praful had played just one T20 match before this IPL game, against Andhra for Vidarbha, returning figures of 1/23.
