Who is Praful Hinge? The Sunrisers Hyderabad fast bowler announced himself on the IPL stage in extraordinary fashion, taking three wickets in the very first over of RR’s chase of 217 in the SRH vs RR IPL 2026 match — dismissing Orange Cap holder Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, and Lhuan-dre Pretorius to leave Rajasthan Royals reeling at 1 for 3.
Praful Hinge, a 24-year-old right-arm medium-fast bowler from Nagpur who plays for Vidarbha in domestic cricket, had never bowled a single ball in the IPL before tonight. He had just one T20 appearance to his name in his entire career. And then he produced one of the most remarkable debut overs in IPL history.
Praful Hinge Debut Over: What Happened Ball By Ball
The Praful Hinge debut saw him opening the bowling for SRH with Rajasthan Royals chasing 217. Yashasvi Jaiswal took a single off the first ball — and then the mayhem began.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old sensation who had been terrorising bowling attacks all season with 200 runs at a strike rate of 266.67, walked in as impact player and faced just one ball. Hinge banged it into the pitch on middle and leg, the ball got big on Sooryavanshi, who tried to swipe it over cow corner but only managed a top edge. Salil Arora took the catch. Sooryavanshi gone for a golden duck.
Two balls later, Dhruv Jurel — RR’s most consistent batter this season — poked tentatively at a back-of-a-length delivery outside off. The ball cannoned off the inside edge into the stumps. Bowled. Two wickets in four balls on debut.
Then came the third. Lhuan-dre Pretorius, making his own RR debut, had no answer to Hinge’s pace and bounce. After surviving a dot ball that whistled past his outside edge, Pretorius flicked the next delivery and Nitish Kumar Reddy took the catch. Three wickets in the first over. Rajasthan Royals 1 for 3.
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Who Is Praful Hinge? Nagpur To The IPL
So who is Praful Hinge? Born on January 18, 2002, in Nagpur, Hinge is a hit-the-deck seamer who represents Vidarbha in Indian domestic cricket. His journey to the IPL is anything but conventional.
Hinge originally saw himself as a batter. It was his father who pushed him towards fast bowling — a decision that initially seemed misguided when the young Hinge was flagged for an illegal bowling action. He had to rebuild his technique from scratch through intensive training to develop a repeatable, legal action. At 16, he joined the Vidarbha Cricket Association academy, where he trained under coach Sanjeev.
His development accelerated through stints at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai — the same academy that has produced Indian fast bowling talent for decades — and a high-performance camp at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, Australia. These experiences shaped Hinge into the bowler SRH backed at auction: someone who hits the deck hard, extracts bounce on subcontinental surfaces, and maintains discipline through long spells.
Hinge considers Pat Cummins his idol — and is now part of the same SRH squad that Cummins captains.
Praful Hinge Stats And T20 Career
The Praful Hinge stats profile heading into tonight made his debut over even more astonishing. He had just one T20 appearance before this IPL match — for Vidarbha against Andhra in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he returned figures of 1/23 in four overs.
His credentials are primarily in red-ball cricket. In 10 first-class matches for Vidarbha, Hinge has taken 27 wickets at an average of 26.7, with a best of 5/55 — and a career-best of 4/60 against Tamil Nadu in November 2025. He was part of the Vidarbha squad that won their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title in January 2026, picking up five wickets in five matches during the campaign.
He also took eight wickets in six games in the inaugural Vidarbha Pro T20 League.
Despite this domestic form, Hinge went unsold at the IPL 2025 auction. SRH picked him up at his base price of ₹30 lakh in the IPL 2026 auction in December 2025. He had already debuted for SRH earlier this season against Punjab Kings, but did not bowl in that match — coming in as an impact player replacement.
Tonight against RR was his first time actually bowling in the IPL. Three wickets in the first over. You cannot script it better.
Also Read: Who is Sakib Hussain? The SRH fast Bowler Who Dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal on IPL 2026 Debut
What The Praful Hinge Debut Means For SRH
SRH have struggled through the early part of IPL 2026 without Pat Cummins, who has been managing a back injury. The emergence of Praful Hinge gives them a genuine Indian pace option who can hit the deck and take wickets with the new ball — exactly the profile they have been missing.
At ₹30 lakh, Hinge may already be the bargain signing of IPL 2026.
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