Praful Knuckle (BCCI/IPL Image)
New Delhi: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Praful Hinge turned his appearance into reality in stunning fashion, as he returned figures of 4/34 in a historic performance in the IPL against Rajasthan Royals on Monday.
His spell helped Sunrisers Hyderabad register a solid 57-run victory over Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.“I wrote it down somewhere that I could take four or five wickets on my debut,” Hennig said after being named man of the match on his debut.After Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 216/6, supported by 91 off 44 balls from captain Ishan Kishan, Hinge set the tone with a fiery opening push that dismantled the chase almost immediately.
His first three wickets effectively dashed the Table Tops’ hopes of chasing 217 before the innings settled.Hinge finished with an impressive opening spell of 2-0-6-4, tearing apart the otherwise scintillating RR standings and leading SRH to their first defeat for the visitors in five matches.
“I wrote this somewhere that I will take 4-5 wickets on my debut. I thought about controlling the power play. I believe in it (the look),” Hinge told the broadcaster after the match.
“At the age of 13, I started playing cricket. I didn’t know what leather-ball cricket was. I asked my father to join the club. But he said I was too young. Then he took me there, and I continued playing after that. I want to dedicate this award to my family.”Hinge also revealed that he was planning to dismiss Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from RR’s opener using the bouncer.“I told people I was going to throw a guard on him and get him out. I just wanted to get him out.
Varun bhai (our bowling coach) helped me plan it, so thank you.”Hinge’s four-wicket haul was complemented by another impressive debut from spinner Saquib Hossain, who returned figures of 4/24.
“Every player hopes for a debut like this, so it feels really good. I am very happy. The bowling coach (SRH) informed me a day before the match that I would be playing. Since then, my focus has simply been on performing well. Mentally, I have prepared myself to give my best,” Hussain said.“Varun (Arun) bhai has worked with me for the last four years. Whatever improvement you see in my bowling is because of him. I give him full credit. It was a great feeling. To have such a performance in my first match is very special,” he added.SRH captain Ishan Kishan praised the intent of his young duo, Heing and Hussain, and highlighted their hunger and preparation throughout the season.“You also have to look at how hungry the young bowlers are, how motivated they are and you know how hungry they are to play these matches and I think they have been training all season,” he said.“They have been working with bowling coach Varun Aaron and were just trying to give their best, talking to all the experienced players. They have done particularly well in the practice matches as well, so I think it was the right move today,” Kishan added.Kishan also spoke about the challenges the captain faces as a wicketkeeper-batsman.“As a captain, I felt, you know, there is some misunderstanding going on. You are not able to communicate with the bowlers about the tactics.
So it’s better for us to be there, discuss with them what they are going to play so we can get a feel for it, and prepare the field accordingly.”Rajasthan Royals captain Ryan Parag admitted that he had little previous exposure to SRH’s new ball pair.“I haven’t seen them much in domestic cricket. I think I played with Sakib once, Bihar against Assam. But they bowled beautifully. Considering the pressure of the home crowd supporting them and chanting their names, the way they bowled in the first four-five overs was really impressive,” Parag said.Parag also reflected on his team’s decision during the draw.“We lost back-to-back wickets, and it was thanks to the way they bowled. There might have been some miscalculations on our part as well, but we will consider this as just a misstep and not think about it much,” he said.“I felt the bowling at number two was probably better, maybe because we lost wickets early. It was a little stuck on the new ball while it was shining. Once the shine wore off, it slowed down a bit.”He added: “In hindsight, we could have played second, but there are a lot of things we could have done better.”
