Hyderabad, April 13 (IANS) Debutant pacers Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain announced themselves on the grand stage by picking eight wickets collectively as Sunrisers Hyderabad ended IPL 2026 table topper Rajasthan Royals winning juggernaut with a thumping 53-run win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday.

In a script that felt more like a fairytale, Nagpur-based Hinge became the first bowler in IPL history to claim a three-wicket haul in the opening over. He broke the back of RR’s mighty top order to end up with 4-34. Hussain, hailing from Gopalganj in Bihar, provided the clinical finish and remained unflappable to pick with 4-24.

For RR, who were at 9/5, a partnership of 118 between Donovan Ferreira (69) and Ravindra Jadeja (45) – the second-highest stand for the sixth wicket or lower in the IPL, saved the side from being shot out for a low total, as they eventually folded at 159 in 19 overs.

SRH’s gamble of blooding two debutants coming in place of experienced campaigners Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat proved to be a masterstroke. The victory is SRH’s second in five games and catapults them to fourth spot on the points table, with their campaign firmly back on track.

On the very first ball of his spell, Hinge did what the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood hadn’t managed to do this season: dismiss Vaibhav Sooryavanshi cheaply. Sooryavanshi’s eyes lit up on seeing the short ball and went for an expansive pull, but the top-edge was caught by keeper Salil Arora, leaving Hinge and SRH jubilant.

It was the start of a sensational spell for Hinge – he had Dhruv Jurel chopping on to his stumps, before having Lhuan-dre Pretorius flick straight to long leg. The astonishing dream start made Hinge the first-ever bowler to pick three wickets in the opening over of an IPL innings.

The nightmare continued for RR, as Hinge removed skipper Riyan Parag just one ball after being whipped disdainfully through mid-wicket. He enticed Parag to chase a lovely outswinger, which the RR skipper edged to slip.

From the other end, fellow debutant pacer Sakib Hossain got his first IPL scalp as Yashasvi Jaiswal upper-cut a short ball with extra bounce to deep backward point, as RR lost five scalps even before the third over was completed.

With the game’s result rendered a foregone conclusion, Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira steadied RR’s ship with an aim to avoid having a huge dent on the net run rate. With the pair taking RR past 49, it meant they avoided the ignominy of the lowest score in the IPL.

The duo brought up the fifty of their stand off 35 balls, with Ferreira being lighting quick to pounce on anything loose from spinners Shivang Kumar and Harsh Dubey and sent them over the boundary ropes to bring up his maiden IPL half-century off just 31 deliveries.

But the 118-run stand was broken when Sakib castled Ferreira with a slower ball, while Jadeja nicked behind off Eshan Malinga. More delight came for Sakib when his slower balls dismissed Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi on consecutive deliveries while Malinga had Tushar Deshpande holing out to extra-cover and close a thumping win for SRH.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 216/6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 91, Heinrich Klaasen 40; Jofra Archer 2-37, Riyan Parag 1-5) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 in 19 overs (Donovan Ferreira 69, Ravindra Jadeja 45; Sakib Hussain 4-24, Praful Hinge 4-34) by 57 runs

–IANS

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