1,041 kms apart, united by pace: IPL finds its newest sensations in Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain
Vidarbha’s pacer Praful Hinge and Bihar’s Sakib Hussain scripted history with four wickets each on IPL debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Rajasthan Royals. Their efforts bowled RR out for 159 in a 57-run win. Coaches praised their potential, highlighting strong domestic performances, while stressing the need for consistency going forward.
MUMBAI: Nagpur and Gopalganj are 1,041 kilometres apart, but on Monday night, two young fast bowlers from these towns came together to script history in IPL 2026. Vidarbha’s Praful Hinge (24) and Bihar’s Sakib Hussain (21) made sensational debuts for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad, becoming the first bowling pair to take four wickets each on IPL debut. Hinge returned figures of 4 for 34, while Sakib impressed with 4 for 24, underlining that the IPL is not just about explosive young batters like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Mukul Choudhary, but also about emerging bowlers making an impact.
The duo helped bowl out RR for 159, powering SRH, who signed them at their base price of Rs 30 lakh, to a 57-run win. Vidarbha head coach Usman Ghani praised Hinge, saying, “I’ve been seeing him from the junior level days. He’s very promising.
We’ve got a good crop of fast bowlers coming up. We’ve got a good competition amongst our pacers for spots in the Vidarbha team. He performed well for us in the 2025-26 edition of the Ranji Trophy (Praful took 16 wickets in six matches, with a best haul of four for 60).
” Hinge played just one match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but caught the attention of IPL scouts. “In SMAT, since we’ve many seasoned pacers, we could only give Hinge a chance to play in the last league match (he took 1-23 in four overs against Andhra), as we didn’t qualify for the knockouts. However, the IPL talent scouts, who had come to watch that game (in Lucknow) were impressed by him,” Ghani said.