Praful Hinge Reminds Ravichandran Ashwin Of India Veteran With 294 International Wickets: "It Was In God's Hands"

Praful Hinge arrived on the big stage, and how. The 24-year-old from Vidarbha decimated the famed Rajasthan Royals batting line-up with a three-wicket burst in the first over in an IPL 2026 match on Monday. The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler dismissed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, and Lhuan Dre Pretorius in the first over of RR's 217-run chase. This was the first time a bowler had taken three wickets in the opening over of an IPL innings. Hinge, 24, was picked up by SRH at his base price of Rs 30 lakh at last year's auction in Abu Dhabi. India bowling great Ravichandran Ashwin praised Hinge's in-swingers and added that Hinge reminded him of Bhuvneshwar Kumar's debut against Pakistan in 2012 in an ODI. Bhuvneshwar had dismissed Mohammad Hafeez on his first ball. Bhuvneshwar has 294 international wickets in three formats.

"He reminded me of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He debuted vs Pakistan in 2012 and bowled a couple of balls like these. But taking three wickets in an over is not that easy. It was also in God's hands," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

"A boy has bowled so well with the red ball for Vidarbha, but his name is not coming up in Google searches. There is something wrong in the world if that happens. He has bowled so well in First-Class cricket. I have previously said that Praful Hinge should have played from the first match," he added.

Ashwin also had nice things to say about Sakib Hussain, who returned with figures of 4/24 - the joint-best bowling numbers for any debutant in the IPL.

"Sakib Hussain was with the KKR squad for two or three years. He used to play tennis ball cricket. Someone watched his video of tennis ball cricket and scouted him from there. He did not get a chance at KKR, but SRH have the same kind of bowlers, and they need a fast bowler who can swing the ball in the powerplay," Ashwin said.

"We will have to wait and watch to see how this young bowling unit lines up in the bigger picture," Ashwin said.

"But what gives me confidence to say SRH will pile pressure on other teams, in addition to Praful Hinge, is Hussain's yorker execution. Had I seen someone at the nets coming up with such yorkers, I would have given him a run in the very first game," the spinner added. "I'm wondering what took SRH so long to put these players on the park."

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