IPL 2026: Who Is Praful Hinge? SRH Pacer Who Took Three Wickets In 1st Over On Tournament Debut

 

Sunrisers Hyderabad handed an Indian Premier League (IPL) debut to pacer Praful Hinge of Nagpur, Maharashtra. He was given a tough task of starting the proceedings with the ball against the opening pair of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, the 24-year-old pacer bowled such a brilliant spell that he has now started trending all over social media. He scripted a record by taking three wickets in the first over, which included key scalps of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius.

 

Hinge has become the first bowler to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings in the history of the tournament. It happened for the first time in the 19-year history of the tournament. Earlier, there have been 32 occasions when a bowler took two wickets in the first over of the innings.

Handing a debut to Hinge turned out to be a masterstroke for SRH as he started his spell with three big wickets. The young seamer was picked for INR 30 lakh by the franchise at the auction table.

Hinge hails from Nagpur and plays domestic cricket for Vidarbha. He has taken 27 wickets from 10 first-class matches with an average of 26.7 and has bowled long and disciplined spells in the domestic matches.

"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. I wanted to dominate as much as possible in the powerplay,” Hinge said after winning the player of the match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR).

 

"I started playing cricket at the age of 13. I didn't initially know what leather ball cricket is. But, I told my father to enrol me in a club and he took me there, and that's how I started my cricket. I want to dedicate this award to my family."

Hinge made his first-class debut for Vidarbha in October 2024 and made a regular appearance in the last Ranji Trophy. He picked 16 wickets in 11 innings with an average of 26.37 in that season. His only T20 fixture came against Andhra in December 2025 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he registered figures of 1/23.

Hinge usually nips the ball back into the batter while bowling at speeds around 140 KPH. He made waves in the inaugural edition of the Vidarbha Pro T20 League last year, where he played a key role for Neco Master Blasters, taking eight wickets from six matches with an economy of 8.96 and a strike rate of 17.25.