Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain script dream debuts to end RR's winning run

Led by an inspired new-ball bowling performance by debutants Praful Hinge and Saqib Hussain, Sunrisers Hyderabad ended Rajasthan Royals' four-game winning start to IPL 2026. After posting 216/6, the duo derailed the chase for the visitors, reducing them to 9 for 5 by the end of the third over. Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja stitched a 118-run stand off 72 balls to keep Royals in the hunt, but they were always playing the chase, in which they eventually fell short by 57 runs.

Match in Phases

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 216/6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 91 off 44 balls, Heinrich Klaasen 40 off 26 balls; Jofra Archer 2-37, Riyan Parag 1-5) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 in 19 overs (Donovan Ferreira 69 off 44 balls, Ravindra Jadeja 45 off 32 balls; Sakib Hussain 4-24, Praful Hinge 4-34) by 57 runs

Who won SRH the match?

Praful Hinge, on his debut, ripped through Royals' top order with three wickets in the first over of the innings - becoming the first-ever player to achieve that feat in IPL. By the end of the third over, each of Royals' top-five batters were back in the pavilion, all spoils shared by the two debutant sharing the new-ball, with Hinge taking four of those.

Seventh duck for Abhishek Sharma in 2026

For a second game in a row, Jofra Archer struck off the first ball as Abhishek Sharma attempted to make room and slap the pacer over third man, only to be caught on the fence by Ravi Bishnoi. It was the seventh time Abhishek had fallen for a duck in T20 cricket this year. Archer and Nandre Burger continued to test Travis Head and Ishan Kishan with extra bounce, keeping the early charge in control. Kishan began to cut loose from the fifth over once the duo was out of attack, taking apart Sandeep Sharma and Tushar Deshpande to help the side to 51/2 in the powerplay.

Captain Kishan keeps the fight on

Just when it looked like Ishan Kishan and Travis Head were attempting to shrug off that slow start, Riyan Parag brought himself on and dismissed Head rightaway. However, that didn't stop Kishan from holding back. The skipper kept the charge going, which included 21 runs picked off Tushar Deshpande in the 11th over, and two overs later, he smashed Jofra Archer for four boundaries. In the company of Heinrich Klaasen, he added 88 runs off only 39 balls, but eventually fell nine short of a century.

Reddy, Arora bring muscle to the finish

Tushar Deshpande and Sandeep Sharma returned to dismiss Kishan and Klaasen in quick succession, and managed to pull the scoring rate back for a bit, but a few big hits by Nitish Reddy (13-ball 28) and Salil Arora (13-ball 24*) managed to propel SRH to 216/6, aided a fair bit by a flurry of wides, as both the RR pacers ended up conceding over 50 runs from their respective four-over spells.

Hinge kills the chase

In his first-ever IPL game, Hinge kickstarted the proceedings by sending back Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan Dre-Pretorious within the first over - becoming the first bowler to pick as many wickets on his first-ever IPL over.

But the early stutter didn't end there. Sakib Hussain, the other debutant, joined the party in the next over, sending back Yashasvi Jaiswal. And by the end of the fifth over, even skipper Riyan Parag was dismissed, edging a slash to wide slip. Reduced to 9 for 5 within three overs, the contest was killed within the powerplay.

Ferreira-Jadeja keep hopes up

On a flat track, with finally some quality time to bat, Ferreira and Jadeja steadied the innings, and kept the boundaries flowing to ensure despite the mounting scoring rate, the game hadn't gone beyond Royals' reach for as long as they were in the middle. The counter-attack largely started from the 11th over when Ferreira hit Shivang Kumar for a six and a boundary. With 90 needed off 31 balls, Sakib Hussain's slower ball cleaned up Ferreira, and with it, ended RR's hopes.

Jadeja was caught behind in the next over, a decision that came after a successful review by SRH. Beyond that, it was only a matter of formality. Jofra Archer mistimed a scoop through third and was caught. Tushar Deshpande hit a few lusty blows towards the end, but the game was well past Royals' grasp by then.

What next for the teams?

After being handed their first loss of the season, Royals will now travel to Kolkata and have a nice long break before they face Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on April 19. Sunrisers Hyderabad, meanwhile, will stay at home to face the visiting Chennai Super Kings.