Hyderabad: In a debut performance that will be etched into the tournament’s folklore, pacer Praful Hinge delivered the most successful first over in IPL history to engineer Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 57-run mauling of Rajasthan Royals here on Monday.
Hinge dismissed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (golden duck), Dhruv Jurel, and Lhuan-dre Pretorius all in his opening over, the first instance of a bowler bagging three wickets in the first over of an IPL innings.
SRH, having posted 216 for six on the back of skipper Ishan Kishan’s 44-ball 91, bundled out the in-form RR for 159 in 19 overs, returning to winning ways in style after back-to-back losses. The night though, without an iota of doubt, will be remembered for the 24-year-old Hinge’s dream debut. He ended with figures of 4/34 from his 4 overs.
Originally slated to make his debut on April 11 against Punjab Kings, Vidarbha pacer Hinge was robbed of the opportunity due to some last-minute changes by the team management. However, when he finally got the opportunity, Hinge made the stage his own with an explosive start to his career in the league that is into its 19th year. Sooryavanshi was beaten for pace and the resultant top edge, which went straight up, was taken by wicketkeeper Salil Arora. Hinge cleaned up Dhruv Jurel with a delivery that landed just outside off and got an inside edge before crashing into the stumps.
Pretorius looked to flick one but couldn’t clear Nitish Reddy at deep backward square leg, bringing to an end a sensational first over.
Bihar’s Sakib Hussain, also making his IPL debut, too made it memorable for him by returning excellent figures of 4/24 in 4 overs.
Hussain, too, got a wicket in his very first over, dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal to leave RR tottering at 4/2, which became 5/9 when Hinge had Riyan Parag slashing one to slip.
The game was as good as over at that stage but Donovan Ferreira (69 off 44 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (45 off 32) stitched a partnership of 118 runs to delay the inevitable and reduce the margin of defeat. Hussain returned to pick up the wicket of Ferreira, Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi.