Who Are Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain? The Duo That Shook Rajasthan Royals Batting Line-up

Sunrisers Hyderabad have found two stars of the game, who dominated RR’s batting line-up. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain took 4 wickets each for the team, rattling RR's batting line-up to a great extent. A team which smashed the world-class bowlers ended up being dominated by two youngsters.

Rajasthan Royals have been handed over their first loss of the season. And it was not by any of the dominant teams in this season, it came by Sunrisers Hyderabad, whose bowling attack was already filled with inexperienced players with the unavailability of Pat Cummins.

Still in the last game against Rajasthan Royals, the team went with Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain. Rajasthan Royals is known for having a strong batting line-up, with players such as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, and Riyan Parag. This line-up has dominated bowlers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, and many other big names.

But Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain were able to capitalise this batting line-up with ease. Praful started his maiden IPL over with 3 wickets, taking down the entire top order with ease. Both Hinge and Hussain ended up with 4 wickets each, proving worth to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Let's take a look at both of these young talents and how their journey has been in the cricket world.

Praful Hinge

Praful Hinge wanted to be a fast-paced bowler since his childhood. His father was also a cricketer but he chose to focus on his studies and dropped the game. However, Praful didn't have to face similar consequences. He didn't have enough money to fund his career but he receive support from his sister.

His sister was good at academics and even cleared the CA exam. With her earnings, she was able to fund Hinge for his practices. Eventually, he was able to do well for Vidarbha in the selection games and made it to the team. In just 10 games of his first class career, he was able to take 27 wickets for the team, with the selectors watching on him closely.

Some reports even suggest that he went for a three month training at Brisbane. And at this time, he trained with none other than Josh Hazlewood, one of the best fast bowlers right now. When his name went unsold in the auction, Hinge was a bit disappointed. But the disappointment didn't last long, as he was picked in the second round.

Hinge was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for 30 lakh rupees, and his family watched the auction from a temple. He was also supposed to make his debut for SRH in the game against Punjab Kings. But a late shift in strategy meant that Jaydev Unadkat was picked over him.

Sakib Hussain

The story of Sakib Hussain is also motivating. Kolkata Knight Riders also posted a video of Sakib, when he was a part of their team in 2024. He belonged to a farmer's family, and his father worked enough to feed his family well. But later on, his father got some knee issues, bringing up the responsibilities on his shoulders.

Sakib used to go for running at a ground, where he was noticed by some coaches. They gave him an opportunity to play tennis ball cricket, where he excelled as a bowler. He also revealed that he used to receive 500 to 2000 rupees depending on his bowling speed. Eventually, he started playing with the leather ball and needed bowling spikes shoes for his game.

But since they were worth approximately 10-15K rupees, it wasn't an easy task for a middle class family to get him those shoes. His mother sold her jewellery to get Sakib the shoes. The belief of his family members on him was at top, which eventually helped Sakib to be a net bowler for Chennai Super Kings.

In the IPL auction, he went unsold in the first round and was disappointed. His coach Robin Singh gave him some motivation and eventually he got himself sold to Kolkata Knight Riders in the second round. At first, Sakib didn't believe he has been bought by a team but when he saw his family members being greeted by the neighborhood, it became an emotional moment for him.