Sunrisers Hyderabad’s new-ball duo of Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain quickly turned heads after making their IPL debuts against the Rajasthan Royals on Monday. Together, they returned figures of four wickets apiece as SRH posted a commanding 57-run win while defending a target of 217. For RR, the setback carried added weight because it ended a perfect start in the season—this was their first loss after winning each of their previous four matches. While both debutants made their presence felt, Hinge captured the biggest share of attention by striking three times in his first over, including a breakthrough that left batting youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stranded for a golden duck.
Sooryavanshi’s dismissal came early and fast. On the second ball of the opening over, he went for a pull, but the contact wasn’t clean enough—an edge carried the ball into the air. Wicketkeeper Salil Arora took the catch safely, removing the batter almost immediately and shifting the momentum sharply in SRH’s favour. The moment became even more memorable thanks to SRH owner Kavya Maran, whose reaction to the wicket spread quickly across social media.
As soon as the ball rose above the infield, Maran was seen rising from her seat and pleading for the catch to be taken. The instant Arora completed the catch, she unleashed an animated burst of celebration, highlighting how significant the early breakthrough was for the home side. The clip of her reaction became a talking point long after the over ended.
Hinge’s impact did not stop with that first strike. In the same over, he dismissed Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, and then, in the third over, he removed Riyan Parag for four runs. By the time the early overs were done, Hinge had effectively scripted the tone of the chase and set the Royals on the back foot from the outset.
SRH’s win was not only shaped by individual brilliance, but also by a rare collective lapse from RR’s attacking top order. The Royals’ batting unit, which featured Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel, struggled to get going as SRH’s bowling kept applying pressure at key moments. The result was a 57-run hammering for Rajasthan on Monday, a match where their explosive start with the bat failed to materialise and their season-long momentum finally hit a wall.
In the post-match media interaction, RR captain Riyan Parag reflected on a chase that never quite took off. He said it felt like a mix of factors, admitting that they were caught off guard by the pace off the hand and how the ball behaved on the wicket. Parag also pointed out how Sooryavanshi and Jurel were affected by deliveries that came in with movement and timing, while noting that Jaiswal usually finds ways to score—yet this time, the plan didn’t click.
Parag added that he received a fuller ball that he couldn’t get under his power in the way he wanted. While he didn’t label the loss as pure misfortune, he stressed that multiple variables combined to prevent RR from linking their shots effectively, ultimately leaving them unable to build a meaningful chase against SRH’s disciplined bowling.
