KOLKATA, APRIL 14, 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) secured a dominant 57-run victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 21st match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. The match witnessed a sensational debut by Praful Hinge, who made history in the IPL by taking three wickets in his very first over. It was an all-round performance by SRH, handing RR their first loss of the season.
SRH posted a massive total of 216/6 in the first innings, with the help of a brilliant knock by Ishan, who scored 91 runs off 44 balls. The debutant pace duo of Praful Hinge and Shakib Hussain later commanded the RR chase and bowled them out for 159. For this match, both teams made a few changes. SRH replaced Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat with debutants Praful Hinge and Shakib Hussain. RR brought in debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Tushar Deshpande, replacing Shimron Hetmyer and Brijesh Sharma. RR won the toss and chose to bowl first. Jofra Archer opened the bowling and dismissed Abhishek for a golden duck. Captain Ishan then came in and played an electrifying innings, dismantling the RR bowling attack with 91 runs off 44 balls, including 8 fours and 6 sixes, at a strike rate of 206.82. He dominated especially in the powerplay. After Travis Head got out for 18 (caught by Donovan Ferreira, bowled by Riyan Parag), Klaasen joined Ishan, and the duo built an impressive 88-run partnership. Ishan fell just 9 runs short of his century when Sandeep Sharma took his crucial wicket. Klaasen anchored the middle overs with a steady 40 off 26 balls but was dismissed (caught by Riyan Parag, bowled by Tushar Deshpande). Later, impactful contributions from Nitish Kumar Reddy (28 off 13) and Salil Arora (24 off 13 not out) ensured SRH set a huge target of 217 for RR.
In the second innings, debutant Praful Hinge created history. After conceding a single on the first ball to Jaiswal, he dismissed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for a golden duck on the second ball. Two balls later, he removed Dhruv Jurel, and on the final delivery of the over, he got Lhuan-dre Pretorius out. With this remarkable spell, Praful Hinge became the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings. He finished with 4 wickets for 34 runs in 4 overs and was named Player of the Match. The first over score read 1/3. Shakib Hussain continued the dominance by dismissing Jaiswal for 1 run in the second over. RR were reduced to 9/5 within the first three overs. However, Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja built a strong 118-run partnership to bring RR back into the game. Ferreira played a brilliant knock of 69 off 44 balls, while his Jadeja supported him with 45 off 32 balls. Eventually, Eshan Malinga broke the partnership. Shakib Hussain returned to seal the victory, finishing with 4 wickets for 24 runs in 4 overs. He dismissed the remaining RR batters, including Ferreira (69), Jofra Archer (2), and Ravi Bishnoi (duck), ensuring RR were bowled out.
With this loss, RR suffered their first defeat of the season. SRH, on the other hand, made a strong comeback after two consecutive losses and now stand in 4th position with 4 points. RR will face KKR on 19 April, while SRH will take on CSK on 18 April. It will be interesting to see how SRH carry forward this winning momentum and how RR bounce back from this defeat.
