Sunrisers Hyderabad unearth a pair of young lions with a voracious hunger for wickets  

They say fast bowlers hunt in pairs and on Monday night at the RGIC one got to see a pair of young lions from the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain hunted down Rajasthan Royals in a 57-run victory as they poached four victims each.

Praful’s triple strike in the first over decimates Rajasthan Royals as Sunrisers win by 57 runs

In the history of cricket there have been famous combinations such as Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall, Sir Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Courtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis as well as others. Fast bowling is not only about raw pace. It is also about sustained pressure and teamwork.

When both ends are controlled by fast bowlers of similar quality, the batters find no respite. Every over becomes a challenge, and mistakes are more likely under such relentless pressure.

On Monday night, Sunrisers Hyderabad seems to have unearthed two young lions who worked in tandem to destroy the all-conquering Rajasthan Royals. Pics: BCCI

On Monday night, Sunrisers Hyderabad seems to have unearthed two young lions who worked in tandem to destroy the all-conquering Rajasthan Royals. The Royals were looking for an easy victory but instead they came crashing down to their first defeat in the ongoing IPL season, and an ignominious one at that.

Hinge and Hussain wreck Rajasthan Royals

The duo who wrecked the Rajasthan batting line up are Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain. The two of them took four wickets each after Ishan Kishan’s quickfire 91 as Sunrisers Hyderabad crushed Rajasthan Royals by 57 runs. SRH was also bolstered by Heinrich Klaasen’s 26-ball 40, a quickfire 28 from Nitish Kumar Reddy and Salil Arora’s 13-ball 24 not out.

SRH debutants have shown that future of Indian bowling is in safe hands: McClenaghan

But to get back to the tale of the two enthusiastic young men who capped it off for Sunrisers, it is not surprising to see that both of them shot up from the lower ranks and exploded on the national scene when least expected.

Nagpur-lad Hinge creates IPL history

The 24-year-old Praful Prakash Hinge set the ball rolling with an unbelievable opening salvo. He dismissed the tall scoring sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, and Lhuan-dre Pretorious for ducks. They didn’t know what hit them. The Nagpur-born bowler scripted a fairy tale beginning to his IPL career by becoming the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings.

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This lanky, right-arm bowler whose idol is Aussie captain Pat Cummins, made his first-class debut for Vidarbha in the 2024–25 season. Before his 2026 IPL debut, he played 10 first-class matches in which he took 27 wickets. His only T20 appearance came in the 2025-26 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he opened the bowling with Umesh Yadav and claimed the wicket of Andhra captain Ricky Bhui.

He was bought by SRH for Rs 30 lakh which was his base price. Today, the Sunrisers management must be really glad that they picked him up. Hinge started his career at the age of 13, by convincing his father to let him join a cricket coaching camp.

Hinge worked with Glenn McGrath

Later, Hinge suffered a back injury but recovered due to the expert physios at the MRF Pace Academy who treated him. At the academy, he worked with Australia’s fast bowling legend Glenn McGrath. Soon after his Ranji debut in 2024, Hinge was back, playing for Vidarbha Under-23 side where he was quite successful.

But nobody had expected this devastating explosion on his IPL debut. The Rajasthan Royals camp was clearly in a shock when it happened. After receiving the Player of the Match award, Hinge revealed that it was his dream to dismiss Vaibhav with the first ball and his dream had come true.

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But the squad from Rajasthan had not seen the full show yet. They were in for more artillery fire. After Hinge had blown away the top order, Sakib Hussain entered to sweep away whatever remained and finish all hopes of a fight back.

Sakib began by dismissing the dangerman Yashasvi Jaiswal. Later he dismissed Donovan Fereira, Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi. He ended with a creditable analysis of 4-0-24-4. In between Ehsan Malinga snapped up two wickets and the rout was complete.

Bihari babu Hussain faced several difficulties

The 21-year-old Sakib, who had been bought for Rs 30 lakh just like Hinge, came into the game as an impact sub for Travis Head. Two years ago, he had been picked by KKR for Rs 20 lakh but did not get a game. His roots lie in Gopalganj in Bihar, where his father, Ali Ahmed Hussain, is a farmer.

When he was a student, Sakib wanted to join the army. But somehow, due to encouragement and persuasion from his friends, he was pushed into playing tennis-ball cricket for local teams in his village. But his talent saw his cricket career begin to grow. However, as his career took off, his family faced financial hardships. His father could no longer work because he developed knee problems. But Sakib’s mother sold her jewelry so that he could continue his cricket career. The family support was of immense help to the budding pacer.

Sakib Hussain’s mother sold her jewelry so that he could continue his cricket career. The family support was of immense help to the budding pacer

Later Sakib was selected to represent Bihar in T20 cricket. He made his senior debut in the 2022-23 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He was 17 then and it was not a good debut. He conceded 27 runs in two overs. But he starred in Bihar’s final game of that season, taking four wickets against Gujarat.

Following that, he was called up to be a net bowler for CSK. In red-ball cricket, Sakib impressed during a 2024-25 Ranji Trophy game against Punjab, by taking four wickets. Last year, against Arunachal Pradesh, he took a ten-wicket match haul.

Sunrisers’ fans hope for more success

With memorable IPL debuts on the same night, Hinge and Hussain’s journeys have found a common thread. They complement each other well and it now remains to be seen where the pace-bowling duo goes from here. No doubt, Sunrisers fans are hoping that these two young artillery gunners will have good shooting in the future outings of their battles in the rest of IPL 2026.