Kamal Ghorui
Rajasthan Royals may have suffered a heavy defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad, but their innings still produced a rare statistical milestone in the Indian Premier League 2026 clash on Monday. After a disastrous start that saw them collapse to 9 for 5 inside the first few overs, Rajasthan Royals somehow managed to post 159 in 19 overs. In doing so, they became the first team in IPL history to cross 150 after losing their first five wickets for under 20 runs. It was a remarkable recovery in an otherwise one-sided contest. The turnaround was led by a fighting 118-run partnership between Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja for the sixth wicket. The stand now ranks as the second-highest partnership for the sixth wicket or lower in IPL history, only behind the unbeaten 122-run stand between Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu for Mumbai Indians against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2012. Earlier in the evening, the game had been tilted heavily in favour of Sunrisers Hyderabad thanks to a dream debut from pacer Praful Hinge. The youngster removed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius in the very first over, marking the first instance of three wickets falling in the opening over of an IPL innings. He went on to finish with figures of 4 for 34. SRH had set the tone with the bat as well, posting 216 for 6 on the back of a brilliant 91 from skipper Ishan Kishan. Contributions from Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy and Salil Arora helped push the total beyond 200. While the result was never in doubt after the early collapse, Rajasthan’s lower-order resistance ensured that the margin of defeat was reduced. It also added a unique statistical footnote to a match dominated by SRH’s pace attack and Hinge’s unforgettable debut.
