The Indian Premier League (IPL) threw up a surprise package on Monday evening. As Sunrisers Hyderabad finished on a score of 216/6 on the back of a sensational 91 by stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan, there were talks that the target of 217 might not be big enough for Rajasthan Royals.
Earlier in the season, SRH had failed to defend targets of 220 and 202 against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru respectively. Add to it the rampaging form of RR batters Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel - the three players had hit two half-centuries each and all the six fifties have come at breathtaking pace.
Now factor in the combined IPL experience of SRH's bowlers, which before the match against RR, stood at 53 matches. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who hardly completes his quota of four overs, was the most experienced bowler with 32 games under his belt.
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Now account for SRH's two debutant pacers, both of whom are in their 20s, and neither of whom had played over 15 T20s in their professional career. The odds were heavily in RR's favour! And then came the twist. Or rather pace!
Sooryavanshi, Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, RR's powerful left-handed batter, were all dismissed on big fat zero! All three gone in the first over of the chase.
The Royals who had boasted on pushing the opposing teams on the back foot due to swashbuckling starts were reeling at 1/3. More damage was done when Yashasvi Jaiswal sent packing in the second over and when Riyan Parag got out in the third over the fate of the match had been sealed. Then it was all about how soon Sunrisers were willing to close the game.
The two men who effectively won the game for SRH by the time fourth over of RR's innings started were Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, SRH's two debutant pacers.
Hinge's sensational opening over made him the the first bowler to take three wickets in his maiden IPL over. By picking four wickets (Parag was his fourth victim), Hinge became the first bowler to have a four-wicket haul within the first three overs of an IPL innings.
Jaiswal's wicket was picked by Hussain who later ended Donovan Ferreira's fighting innings of 69. And by adding the wickets of Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi to his tally, Hussain too got a four-wicket haul on IPL debut. Hussain's spell might not be discussed in the years to come, but it was as impressive as the one bowled by his fellow debutant.
Together, the two pacers completed the demolition job on RR as their combined figures stood at 8 overs, 58 runs conceded and 8 priceless wickets. RR innings was done and dusted at 159.
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So who are Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain — SRH's new demolition duo!
First, it was a bold call by SRH to leave out Harshal Patel — the joint record-holder for most wickets in a single IPL season — and Jaydev Unadkat, a seasoned campaigner who has represented eight IPL franchises and taken over 100 wickets. Their spots went to Hinge and Hussain. Hinge comes from Vidarbha, while Hussain hails from Bihar.
Not much is known about the duo as the two have toiled hard in the obscurity of domestic cricket.
A profile on Hinge by ESPNCRICINFO tells that he made his first-class debut for Vidarbha in October 2024 and quickly became a regular in the following Ranji Trophy season, claiming 16 wickets across 11 innings at an average of 26.37. His only T20 appearance came against Andhra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in December 2025, in which he bowled a spell of 1/23.
However, his T20 reputation grew during the inaugural Vidarbha Pro T20 League, where he played a key role in Neco Master Blasters' title-winning campaign.
To know about Hussain, head to Kolkata Knight Riders' YouTube channel. The three-time champions profiled him when they had bought him ahead of IPL 2024. Kolkata that year were brimming with bowlers of all shapes, size and skills. It meant that the lanky bowler warmed the benches all through that title-winning campaign.
The champions released the bowler as they prepared for the future. KKR's loss was SRH's gain as The Orange Army bought him at the auction for Rs. 30 lakh. Before taking field against RR, Hussain had played a total of 18 top-tier cricket matches (T20s and First Class combined) and picked 26 wickets.
The past has been obscure for these two young guns, but the demolition job that they carried out against Rajasthan has ensured that they will be closely followed in the future.
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