Praful Hinge turned a tense opening spell into a full-blown nightmare for the Rajasthan Royals on Monday, announcing himself in the IPL with an impact that felt almost scripted. The Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer was playing his first match in the league when he struck immediately, removing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi with the very first delivery he bowled, then sending Dhruv Jurel back on the third ball, and finally accounting for Lhuan-dre Pretorius on the last ball of the opening over. It was the kind of start that left little doubt about his intent, especially with SRH’s bowling unit looking short on momentum before the youngster was brought in.
Hinge’s burst didn’t end after that devastating first over. In his second, he added another scalp by getting rid of RR captain Riyan Parag, taking the early advantage further away from Rajasthan. The debut, however, was backed by solid domestic form: Hinge has featured in 10 first-class matches, picking up 27 wickets, and has also played six List A games where he managed five wickets. His T20 exposure had been limited prior to this opportunity, but the way he seized the moment underlined that the transition could be swift.
SRH’s decision to include him came with a clear role in mind as a pace option, and the numbers behind his red-ball work were hard to ignore. In those 10 first-class appearances, the 24-year-old has taken wickets at an average of 26.7, reflecting the steady, workhorse style that has shaped his reputation. Before stepping into the IPL spotlight, he opened the bowling alongside Umesh Yadav and returned figures of 1 for 23 in four overs against Andhra in his only prior outing described in the report.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings ultimately did the heavy lifting, with Ishan Kishan delivering the defining top-end performance. After Rajasthan’s early setbacks, Kishan blazed through the chase-building phase, smashing 91 off 44 balls. His acceleration was complemented by a late surge from Nitish Reddy and Salil Arora, which helped SRH post 216 for six against the Royals in their Indian Premier League encounter at the venue on Monday.
Kishan looked completely in command during his time at the crease, finding the ropes eight times with fours and sending the ball into the stands for six on six occasions. He also forged an 88-run partnership with Heinrich Klaasen, who contributed 40 from 26 deliveries. With SRH setting a platform through boundaries, the finish turned into a statement: Reddy struck a 13-ball 28, while Arora stayed unbeaten on 24 from 13 balls to ensure the innings didn’t lose momentum at the death.
The tone of the SRH chase began with Abhishek Sharma, who attempted to attack from ball one by charging down the wicket, only to get a slice that ended up in the hands of Ravi Bishnoi in the deep. Jofra Archer’s early spell also produced the kind of angles that unsettle batters, and Bishnoi completed the catch after Abhishek failed to make full connection. Soon after, Kishan flicked Archer over short fine leg for a four, and then struck again by clearing deep mid-wicket for a six, taking control of the scoring rhythm.
In the next over, Kishan produced another maximum, clearing third man against Nandre Burger. He followed that by lofting Sandeep Sharma over his head for a big six, and then added a four through the midwicket region off Tushar Deshpande, continuing to pile pressure on the Rajasthan bowling.
Even as Kishan found boundaries with ease, Travis Head struggled to get going. His innings ended when Riyan Parag made a timely intervention, catching Head in the deep through a rusty 18-ball 18. The call to bring himself in right after the powerplay paid off for Parag, and it gave Rajasthan a brief moment of relief.
However, the dismissal didn’t disturb Kishan’s mindset. He continued with purpose and reached his fifty in 30 balls, highlighted by a huge six over deep midwicket off leg-spinner Bishnoi. The momentum stayed firmly with SRH as Kishan’s boundary barrage pushed their total to 100 in 10.3 overs, with Deshpande leaking 21 runs in that over.
Heinrich Klaasen then added to the pressure by lofting Bishnoi for a six over long-on, and answered that with a four off Archer. Kishan also struck three straight boundaries off Archer to move to 91, even as there was a brief interruption with the lights going off inside the stadium. When it mattered, though, the innings finally saw a mistake: going for what could have been a finishing pull, Kishan miscued the shot, and Sandeep Sharma held on to the ball off his own bowling despite a collision with wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel.
There was also a separate storyline during the match involving Abhishek Sharma, who made an unwanted mark while failing to get going. He overtook Rohit Sharma’s calendar-year record for the most ducks by an Indian batter, registering his seventh duck of 2026 during the IPL clash against Rajasthan. The hot-and-cold nature of his season continued in this game, with Abhishek ending up with a golden duck against RR.
The attempt to go big came from a short ball from Jofra Archer, but Ravi Bishnoi judged it well and took the catch. The dismissal brought his total to seven ducks in 18 innings across the year. It also shifted the record lines: Abhishek surpassed Rohit Sharma’s benchmark of six ducks across 32 innings in 2018, and he also moved beyond Sanju Samson’s six ducks in 32 innings from 2024.
Across five IPL innings so far, Abhishek had scored 129 runs at an average of 25.80, striking at 215.80, including one half-century, with his best score sitting at 74. Before this IPL run, he had endured a disappointing start at the T20 World Cup, where expectations were sky-high after a strong stretch in 2025. In that earlier run, he managed 141 runs in eight innings at an average of 17.62 with a strike rate of 158.42, including two fifties—one of them coming in the final against New Zealand in a winning effort.
His year also included 18 T20Is, where he has scored 452 runs in 18 innings at an average of 26.58 and a strike rate of 203.60, with five half-centuries and seven ducks, his highest score in that stretch being 84. Coming back to Monday’s match, Rajasthan won the toss and chose to bat first.
