Kolkata: In a format unabashedly partial towards batters, uncapped Indian pacers Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain made it a night to remember by scything through Rajasthan Royals’ famed batting line-up on their debut to help carve a 57-run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.
Hussain took 4/24 after Hinge scalped 4/34 while becoming the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in the first over of the innings. Reduced to 9 for five wickets, Royal’s chase was over even before it started.
That they still managed to score 159 is a validation of their lower middle-order that hadn’t been tested before this, especially the pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira who added a record-breaking 118 runs for the sixth wicket.
But men of the moment were Sunrisers’ rank-new seamers after Ishan Kishan’s 44-ball 91 propelled them to an imposing 216/6. Royals were 159 all out with an over to spare.
The required rate mandated a risky start, but Royals failed to factor in the unfamiliarity of Hinge as they took him on straightaway. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi tried to pull Hinge but the ball got big on him and caught the top-edge of his bat. Dhruv Jurel drove on his first ball towards cover point, but the next ball he tried to open the face of his bat but instead got a thick inside edge that clattered into his stumps. Next ball, Lhuan-dre Pretorius got a full delivery on his pads and expectedly flicked it, but probably too well and high to pick out Nitish Reddy at deep backward square-leg.
As if three wickets in the first over wasn’t enough, Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to take on a short ball from Hussain with a massive slash but couldn’t clear Reddy at deep backward point. Skipper Riyan Parag’s dismissal was more conventional in the sense that Hinge’s outswing did it in. Lured by the width, Parag hit out but as luck would have had it, he only got a thick edge that Abhishek caught at wide slip. Hussain returned to bowl Ferreira before quickly dismissing Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi to make it an IPL debut to remember.
Considering the thrills provided by Hinge and Hussain, Sunrisers had a comparatively quieter start in that their first boundary came only off the 10th delivery of the innings. Ten balls faced and only on nine, Travis Head had to get a move on after Abhishek Sharma was removed first ball. But the Aussie too finished with an 18-ball 18.
By then Kishan had unleashed himself with unmistakable confidence, picking his battles and vacant areas to score effortlessly. Heinrich Klaasen provided the perfect support as they added 88 runs for the third wicket. He finished with a 26-ball 40. That, backed by a 13-ball 28 from Nitish Reddy and 24* off 13 balls from Salil Arora meant Sunrisers had more than enough to challenge Royals.
Brief scores: SRH 216/6 (Ishan Kishan 91, Heinrich Klaasen 40, Jofra Archer 2/37). RR 159 all out in 19 ovs (Ravindra Jadeja 45, Donovan Ferreira 69, Praful Hinge 4/34, Sakib Hussain 4/24, Eshan Malinga 2/31). SRH won by 57 runs.