Kamal Ghorui
Rajasthan Royals endured a night to forget in the Indian Premier League 2026 as they scripted a series of unwanted records during their crushing defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. Chasing a daunting 217, RR’s innings unravelled in dramatic fashion right from the outset. Their top four batters managed to score just one run combined — the lowest ever by a team’s top four in IPL history. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the only one to get off the mark with a single, while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius were all dismissed for ducks. The collapse was not just shocking, but record-breaking in the worst possible way. RR lost their first five wickets in just 18 balls — the fastest such collapse in IPL history. Even more staggering, the first four wickets fell in only 10 deliveries, setting another unwanted record. The previous benchmarks stood at 11 balls for four wickets and 19 balls for five, recorded during Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s innings against Deccan Chargers in 2011. At the centre of this carnage was debutant pacer Praful Hinge, who produced a spell for the ages. The youngster picked up three wickets in the very first over — a first in IPL history — removing Sooryavanshi, Jurel and Pretorius to leave RR in complete disarray. He eventually finished with impressive figures of 4/34. If Hinge set the tone, fellow debutant Sakib Hussain ensured there was no way back for RR. The left-arm pacer returned with outstanding figures of 4/24, including the early dismissal of Jaiswal, as Rajasthan slumped to 9/5 within no time. In total, all ten wickets in RR’s innings fell to pacers which is only the seventh such instance in IPL history, and the first since Delhi Capitals achieved it against the same opposition in 2019. Despite the early chaos, RR showed some resistance through Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja, who stitched together a 118-run partnership to take the team to 159. However, the damage had already been done. Earlier, SRH had posted a formidable 216/6, riding on a sublime 91 from captain Ishan Kishan, setting the stage for a dominant 57-run victory. In the end, it was a night where records tumbled but for Rajasthan Royals, they were records they would rather forget.
