Praful Hinge made a historic Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against Rajasthan Royals on 13 April 2026, becoming the first bowler in the league's 19-year history to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings. He finished with sensational match figures of 4/34 and was named Player of the Match. In the post match conversation, Hinge talked about his IPL debut and how he had written in a paper in 2025 that he will take 4-5 wickets on his debut. He turned that vision into reality by taking three wickets in his very first over, dismissing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (0), Dhruv Jurel (0), and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (0).

He also noted that he had specifically planned to target Sooryavanshi with a bouncer on the first ball, which resulted in a catch to deep square leg.His performance not only fulfilled his personal goal but also made him the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings.

“I wrote in a paper last year that when I’ll make my IPL debut, I’ll take 4-5 wickets”, the player said.

Praful Hinge's impressive bowling against RR

Hinge, a 24-year-old right-arm medium-fast bowler from Vidarbha, delivered an extraordinary opening spell that broke the back of the Rajasthan Royals' batting lineup. He dismissed the in-form Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for a golden duck with his first ball, followed by Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius later in the same over. He added the wicket of RR captain Riyan Parag in his second over to complete his four-wicket haul.Despite his immediate success in the T20 format, Hinge entered the IPL as a relatively unknown domestic talent with a stronger background in red-ball cricket.

He represents Vidarbha in domestic cricket and was part of their Ranji Trophy-winning squad in 2024/25 and the Vijay Hazare Trophy-winning side in 2025/26. He was signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹30 lakh during the 2026 auction.Hinge has trained under current SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai.