Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain were on fire against RR (AP Photo) MUMBAI: Nagpur and Gopalganj are 1,041 kilometers apart but on Monday night, two young fast bowlers from these cities came together to set the stage in IPL 2026. Vidarbha’s Praful Hinge (24) and Bihar’s Sakib Hussain (21) made a sensational debut for Sunrisers as the first pair in Hyderabad against Hyderabad. wickets each on IPL debut.Hinge returned figures of 4 for 34 while Sakib made an impressive 4 for 24, underscoring that the IPL is not just about explosive young batsmen like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Mukul Choudhary, but also about budding bowlers making an impact. The duo helped bowl out RR for 159, helping SRH, who signed them at a base price of Rs 30 lakh, to a 57-run win.
Watch
Varun Aaron on Praful Hinge’s dream IPL debut and team’s fearless approachVidarbha head coach Usman Ghani praised Hinge and said, “I have seen him from the junior level. He is very promising. A good crop of fast bowlers is coming in. We have good competition among our pacers for places in the Vidarbha team. He has done well for us in 2025-26 (six Ranji Trophy matches, won the haPrful1 trophy in six Ranji Trophy matches). out of four for 60).Hinge played just one match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but caught the attention of IPL scouts. “In SMAT, since we have many seasoned pacers, we could only give Hinge a chance to play in the last league match (he took 1-23 in four overs against Andhra) as we did not qualify for the knockouts. However, the IPL talent scouts who came to watch the match (in Lucknow) impressed him,” Ghani said.Highlighting his strengths, Ghani added: “Praful bowls quite quickly. He’s a slipper and has a good bouncer. He’s been practicing a lot bowling the ideal bouncer – one that doesn’t go over the head and is considered wide but is fair and at a good height. He’s been practicing his yorker and his yorker day has improved a lot, he’s improved a lot day by day. perceptive (on advice) which is very important for a cricketer.”On the advice of former Indian pacer Prashant Vaidya, Hinge joined the MRF Pace Foundation in 2023 and trained in Australia under Glenn McGrath. An injury on his return ruled him out of the Ranji Trophy knockouts, but he has bounced back strongly since then.
Sakib’s rise highlights the rising talent of Bihar
Meanwhile, Sakib’s rise highlights Bihar’s rising talent behind Sooryavanshi. Bihar coach Vinayak Samant said, “Sakib is a very good fast bowler. He has the ability to generate good speed but also has a good slower. He is also a great fielder. He is a proper T20 specialist. He did well for us in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (Hussain had five wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, especially in A Kolchi Ranchi Varun in five matches). watch Sakibul Hussain impressed and SRH picked him up in auction.”Samant added: “There is a lot of fast bowling talent in Bihar. There is another 22-year-old young pacer from Bihar, Mohammed Izhar, who is part of the Mumbai Indians squad. He is not as fast as Hussain, but he is a good bowler. I hope he gets an opportunity to make his World Cup debut at some stage in the Masters Nine. five matches, best catch of 4-39) in the SMAT for us last season.”Former Bihar Cricket Association official Anand Yalvigi said, “Both Hussain and Izhar are very good fast bowling prospects. I had my eye on both. I spoke to Bihar selectors (represented by BCCI) Chetan Sharma and Harvinder Singh about the need to play both for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy in the first match of the Ranji Trophy for 41. Arunachal Pradesh) in the Ranji Trophy (Plate Group).The challenge now for both Hinge and Sakib is to build on this dream debut and sustain their performances. “We’ll see. Hinge still has a long way to go. He needs to continue to perform consistently,” Ghani said.
