IPL 2026 | 'I manifested this': Meet Praful Hinge, who started IPL career with three-wicket over for SRH vs RR
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "IPL 2026 | 'I manifested this': Meet Praful Hinge, who started IPL career with three-wicket over for SRH vs RR")
Meet Praful Hinge, who started career with 3-wicket over Photograph: (BCCI)
Hinge, a 24-year-old Nagpur born bowler, plays for Vidarbha in India's domestic cricket. He idolises his SRH skipper Pat Cummins and India veteran Umesh Yadav, also a Vidarbha bowler. He took 4/34 in IPL debut for SRH vs RR and won the player of the match award as well.
Praful Hinge, on debut, bowled the first over of RR's chase as SRH tried to defend 217 in IPL 2026 on Monday (Apr 13) in Hyderabad. The match was almost done and dusted after Hinge was done with his over. He removed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on second ball of the ball for a golden duck, clean bowled Dhruv Jurel two balls later and finished the over with the wicket of Lhuan-dre Pretorius. Praful took three wickets for one run in his first over IPL over - a dream come true after years of hard work. He then returned for his second over in the third over of the innings and dismissed RR skipper Riyan Parag as well, bringing down opposition to 9/5. Hinge eventually finished with 4/34 in his four overs but it is his first over which will be remembered for a long time in the tournament history.
Who is Praful Hinge?
Hinge, a 24-year-old Nagpur born bowler, plays for Vidarbha in India's domestic cricket. He idolises his SRH skipper Pat Cummins and India veteran Umesh Yadav, also a Vidarbha bowler. He made his domestic debut in First Class cricket in (red ball) 2024 and has played 10 FC matches, taking 27 wickets with a best of 4/60.
His List A (50-over) debut came in 2025 against Mizoram and has played six matches so far, taking five wickets with a best of 2/54. Before his IPL debut with SRH, Hinge played only one T20 match, in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) vs Andhra Pradesh in 2025 and took 1/23.
He was picked up by scouts for his performance in Vidarbha Pro T20 League last year where played a vital role in Neco Master Blasters' title win.
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He won the POTM award for his performance vs RR and said: “I had manifested this, I think I had written it somewhere last year that the first match I play, I will take four or five wickets.”
Why was Hinge so effective vs RR?
Hinge is a nippy pacer with decent speeds and gets the ball to rush to the batters using his lanky frame. Apart from being unknown, which worked in his favour, Hinge got the ball to batter at uncomfortable angles and speed, making him hard to hit. He would definitely be on the radars of other teams which would now try and decipher his technique for batters to attack against him.
