1,041 kms apart, united by pace: IPL finds its newest sensations in Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain

MUMBAI: Nagpur and Gopalganj are 1,041 kilometres apart, but on Monday night, two young fast bowlers from these towns came together to script history in IPL 2026. Vidarbha’s Praful Hinge (24) and Bihar’s Sakib Hussain (21) made sensational debuts for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad, becoming the first bowling pair to take four wickets each on IPL debut.

Hinge returned figures of 4 for 34, while Sakib impressed with 4 for 24, underlining that the IPL is not just about explosive young batters like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Mukul Choudhary, but also about emerging bowlers making an impact.

The duo helped bowl out RR for 159, powering SRH, who signed them at their base price of Rs 30 lakh, to a 57-run win.

Vidarbha head coach Usman Ghani praised Hinge, saying, “I’ve been seeing him from the junior level days. He’s very promising. We’ve got a good crop of fast bowlers coming up. We’ve got a good competition amongst our pacers for spots in the Vidarbha team. He performed well for us in the 2025-26 edition of the Ranji Trophy (Praful took 16 wickets in six matches, with a best haul of four for 60).”

Hinge played just one match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but caught the attention of IPL scouts.

“In SMAT, since we’ve many seasoned pacers, we could only give Hinge a chance to play in the last league match (he took 1-23 in four overs against Andhra), as we didn’t qualify for the knockouts. However, the IPL talent scouts, who had come to watch that game (in Lucknow) were impressed by him,” Ghani said.

Highlighting his strengths, Ghani added, “Praful bowls quite fast. He is skiddy, and he’s got a good bouncer. He has practiced bowling the ideal bouncer a lot—the one which doesn’t go over the head and is deemed a wide, but is a fair delivery and is at a good height. He has practiced his yorkers a lot. He’s improving day by day. He’s a good, disciplined boy, and is receptive (to advice), which is very important for a cricketer.”

On the advice of former India pacer Prashant Vaidya, Hinge joined the MRF Pace Foundation in 2023 and trained in Australia under Glenn McGrath. An injury after his return ruled him out of the Ranji Trophy knockouts, but he has since bounced back strongly.

Sakib’s rise highlights Bihar’s growing talent pool

Meanwhile, Sakib’s rise highlights Bihar’s growing talent pool beyond Sooryavanshi. Bihar coach Vinayak Samant said, “Sakib is a very good fast bowler. He has the ability to generate good speed, but he's got a good slower one also. He's a brilliant fielder too. He's a proper T20 specialist. He did well for us in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (Hussain took five wickets in five matches). During SMAT, Varun Aaron had especially come to Kolkata to Ranchi to watch Sakibul. He was impressed by Hussain, and SRH picked him up in the auction.”

Samant added, “There's plenty of fast bowling talent in Bihar. There is another 22-year-old young pacer from Bihar, Mohammed Izhar, who is a part of the Mumbai Indians squad. He's not as quick as Hussain, but he's a good bowler. I hope he gets an opportunity to make his debut for MI at some stage. He was Bihar's highest wicket-taker (he took nine wickets in five matches, best haul of 4-39) in SMAT for us last season.”

Former Bihar Cricket Association official Anand Yalvigi said, “Both Hussain and Izhar are very good fast bowling prospects. I had an eye on both of them. I spoke to Bihar selectors (deputed by the BCCI) Chetan Sharma and Harvinder Singh about the need to play both of them for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy. Sakib took six for 41 in Patna in the very first game (against Arunachal Pradesh) in the Ranji Trophy (Plate Group).”

The challenge now for both Hinge and Sakib is to build on this dream debut and sustain their performances. “Let’s see. There’s still a long way to go for Hinge. He has to keep performing consistently,” Ghani said.