HYDERABAD: Monday’s IPL-2026 clash in Hyderabad turned into a story of two debutants, and how their introductions helped hand the Rajasthan Royals their first loss of the season. Praful Hinge, playing for Vidarbha, produced figures of 4/34, while Bihar’s Sakib Hussain struck for 4/24. Both debutants made immediate impacts—Hinge at age 24 and Hussain at age 21—and Rajasthan never really found a rhythm, ultimately tumbling to a 57-run defeat.
Hinge’s start was particularly devastating. He burst into the contest by getting key wickets with the second, fourth and sixth deliveries of the opening over, creating early pressure that Rajasthan struggled to absorb. The Royals’ batting lacked the level of control they had shown when they chased down RCB’s 201/8 just a few days earlier, and from there, poor decision-making only compounded their problems. The visiting side’s downfall was sealed when Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, looking to work an intended pull, top-edged the ball into the safe hands of wicketkeeper Salil Arora on the first delivery he faced.
After that, the wickets kept coming in quick succession. Dhruv Jurel could last for just one delivery, and debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius also departed after a single ball, leaving Rajasthan in a precarious position very early. In the chase, Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to take charge as an ‘Impact Player’—but the plan unraveled when he sent Hussain, who had replaced Travis Head, straight to Nitish Reddy at third man.
Skipper Riyan Parag was next to fall, succumbing to Hinge, and that wicket meant the Royals had lost half their side for a mere nine runs inside the third over. Even then, Rajasthan did not completely fold, with Donovan Ferreira contributing strongly—69 off 44 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes—alongside Ravindra Jadeja, who made 45 off 32 balls with 5 fours. Their 118-run partnership for the sixth wicket offered a window back into the match, but the chase still demanded far too much from there.
Rajasthan eventually finished on 159, meaning they required 146 from the final 10 overs and an even steeper 89 from the last five. Their hopes, though spirited, could not catch up with the target set by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who posted 216/6. The bulk of the damage came through Ishan Kishan, whose innings carried SRH to a total that proved beyond Rajasthan on a pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium where a shirtfront is being used for the first time.
Kishan, who ended with 91 off 44 balls—8 fours and 6 sixes—may have lost his fifth consecutive toss, but on the day it mattered less, as the SRH skipper’s execution was near-flawless. The Royals had their own moment early on when Jofra Archer removed Abhishek Sharma for a seventh duck with the very first ball of the match. Still, that early breakthrough only lasted briefly, as Kishan stepped up immediately to neutralise the impact and rebuild the innings for Hyderabad.
