How a technical tweak helped correct Praful Hinge’s back issue

CHENNAI: Late on Monday, by the time the wider audience found out who Praful Hinge was, he had already scalped three wickets in his first IPL over. Since then, “Who is Praful Hinge?” has been trending.

An uncapped seamer, Praful finished with astonishing figures of 4-34 for Sunrisers Hyderabad on his IPL debut. Right after the match, the Sunrisers Hyderabad player acknowledged the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai for helping him recover from a back stress injury. “I want to thank MRF for taking really good care of me,” Praful said.

At the foundation, the 24-year-old from Nagpur got the opportunity to pick the mind of former Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath, who is the director of coaching. McGrath built a magnificent career on relentless accuracy, and it is one of the many tricks that Praful seems to have taken from him, evident in the way he swings the new ball at pace while holding a tight line and length.

Talking to TOI, Pace Foundation chief coach M Senthilnathan said Praful’s progress began by addressing both his fitness and a technical flaw.

“What we and Glenn saw in him is that he’s got a pretty solid length with the new ball. He gets some deviation and he allows the balls to move. We selected him in 2023 and when he came to us, he had some back issues. We concentrated on his fitness and improved it through rehabs. We also analysed and found the reason behind his back issue. It was because he had a technical flaw, so we fine-tuned it,” said Senthilnathan.

“And then, he did well in that Under-23 season that year, and in 2024 when he was much better and was selected for the Ranji Trophy (for Vidarbha). He is now a frontline bowler for them,” the former Tamil Nadu cricketer said, “He also travelled with us to Australia in 2024 during the exchange programme with Cricket Australia and the Foundation.”

Senthilnathan noted that McGrath was instrumental in helping Praful understand the importance of bowling in the right areas and handling pressure.

“With McGrath at the centre of it, and his vast experience, there are definitely certain things that has gone into Praful’s mind while training with us. Like how to bowl during different phases of the game, how to come back from a bad ball, how not to overdo things. Mentally, these things can only come from someone who has played at that level. That’s what Glenn does,” said Senthilnathan.