Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Praful Hinge announced himself on the grand stage by dismantling Rajasthan Royals’ top order and putting their run chase in complete disarray at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday. The young pacer broke the backbone of RR’s batting by removing their top three batters for ducks, delivering a dream spell in his very first over.Praful Hinge dismissed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (golden duck), Dhruv Jurel (duck), and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (duck) in a sensational opening burst. In a script that felt straight out of a fairytale, the Nagpur-born bowler became the first in IPL history to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings.Sunrisers Hyderabad, powered by skipper Ishan Kishan’s 44-ball 91, posted a strong 216 for 6 before bowling Rajasthan Royals out for 159 in 19 overs. The defeat marked RR’s first loss of the season.After receiving the Player of the Match award, Hinge looked emotional and revealed that he had always dreamt of dismissing Sooryavanshi on the very first ball he bowled in the IPL.“(Imagined such a debut?) I did think about it. Last year, I had written somewhere that whenever I play my first match, I will definitely take four or five wickets. And I wanted to dominate as much as possible in the powerplay. I believe in it. I don’t know about others, but I do believe. (about his journey) I started playing cricket at the age of 13. I didn’t even know what leather-ball cricket was back then. When I was 13, I told my father that I wanted to join a club. He refused a couple of times, saying I was too young. But somehow, things started from there. After that, I just kept playing. Standing at this stage, it feels really good. I want to dedicate this award to my family. They’ve made a lot of sacrifices for me. I just want to say, their hard work and sacrifices mean everything,” Hinge said after the match.Hinge finished with figures of 4/34 from his four overs.Sooryavanshi was beaten for pace on the first ball and the resulting top edge went straight up, allowing wicketkeeper Salil Arora to complete a simple catch. Hinge then trapped Dhruv Jurel with a delivery that landed outside off and nipped back in, taking an inside edge before crashing into the stumps.Pretorius attempted a flick but failed to clear Nitish Reddy at deep backward square leg, ending a historic opening over that stunned the opposition.“The best one was the first wicket of Sooryavanshi, because he was in form. I had already told a couple of people that I would get him out on the very first ball, either with a bouncer or in some way. I just wanted his wicket on the first ball. That was the plan,” Hinge said.“Also, our bowling coach Varun bhai helped me a lot. And I’m thankful to everyone who supported me. (injuries in the past) Everything is fine now. I want to thank MRF for taking really good care of me. When I was there, Naveen sir, the physio, looked after me very well. Since I’ve reached this stage today, I want to thank them too,” he added.With this win, Sunrisers Hyderabad moved up to fourth in the points table and will next face Chennai Super Kings on April 18.
