Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals, 21st Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - CommentarySRH vs RR, 21st Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - Commentary

Who would've imagined SRH to beat the high-flying RR and thereby end their unbeaten run. But this is IPL and we have seen such things happen before. A much-needed win for SRH and they would be so happy at discovering two pacers who can beef up their bowling. When Cummins comes back, they are only going to get stronger. RR meanwhile would want to forget about this game and move on. We too are moving on. Time to leave. We will be back with more IPL action tomorrow. Join us then. For now it's tata and bye bye.

Praful Hinge | Player of the Match (translated from Hindi): (imagined such a debut?) I did think about it. Last year, I had written somewhere that whenever I play my first match, I will definitely take four or five wickets. And I wanted to dominate as much as possible in the powerplay. (power of manifestation) I believe in it. I don’t know about others, but I do believe. (about his journey) I started playing cricket at the age of 13. I didn’t even know what leather-ball cricket was back then. When I was 13, I told my father that I wanted to join a club. He refused a couple of times, saying I was too young. But somehow, things started from there. After that, I just kept playing. Standing at this stage, it feels really good. I want to dedicate this award to my family. They’ve made a lot of sacrifices for me. (your best wicket) The best one was the first wicket of Sooryavanshi, because he was in form. I had already told a couple of people that I would get him out on the very first ball, either with a bouncer or in some way. I just wanted his wicket on the first ball. That was the plan. Also, our bowling coach Varun bhai helped me a lot. And I’m thankful to everyone who supported me. (injuries in the past) Everything is fine now. I want to thank MRF for taking really good care of me. When I was there, Naveen sir, the physio, looked after me very well. Since I’ve reached this stage today, I want to thank them too.

Ishan Kishan | SRH captain: "Definitely very happy with this win, adding on to 2 points in the board, so I just felt happy because what we were looking for from the bowlers to just come here, play freely, execute their plans and I think we did that today and credit goes to all the bowlers hopefully. (on giving the debutants a go tonight) No, I think you also have to look how hungry your young bowlers are, how motivated they feel and you know how much they are hungry to play these games and I think they were working out throughout the season. They were working with fielding, our bowling coach Varun Aaron and they were just trying to give their best, talking to all the experienced players. So I think that was something we were looking for and we had to give them chance when we are playing in our home ground. They especially did well in the practice matches as well, so I think this was right move today. (were you 25 short with the bat?) I think looking at the batting unit and the form these guys are carrying because we have been scoring 200 plus runs in each and every game at least. So yeah, but still I think the way Abhishek plays, you know, sometimes he can get out, but our job is to, take the game deep and play those cricketing shots, but leave him freely because he's someone, if he gets going, he just changes game and gets you a total of 260 or 270. So we don't ask anything else from him. But still, yeah, he got out. I think he'll be motivated in the next game and he'll do.... (not taking the gloves, reason?) I think, as a captain, I felt, there was some miscommunication going on. Sometimes your keeping, time is not there. You're not able to communicate with your bowlers what the plans are. So it's better to be there, discuss with them what they're going to bowl so that we can... set the field accordingly. And that was the plan and I think it worked pretty well for us. (is that the way going forward?) Hopefully, yes."

Sakib Hussain | Translated from Hindi: Thank you so much. Every player hopes for a debut like this, so it feels really good. I’m very happy. (when did he know he was going to play?) The bowling coach Varun bhai informed me a day before the game that I would be playing. From then on, my focus was simply on performing well. Mentally, I prepared myself to give my best. (how has Varun Aaron helped him?) Varun bhai has been working with me for the past four matches. Whatever improvement you see in my bowling is because of him. I give him full credit. (taking wickets on debut) It felt amazing, sir. To have such a performance in my debut match is very special.

Riyan Parag | RR captain: "Not a lot of time to feel the emotions, to be honest. We lost back-to-back wickets, credit to the way they bowled. Probably a few miscalculations from us, but we will just take this as a blip and not think about it too much. (on the pitch) It was pretty good actually. I felt bowling second might have been better, probably because we lost wickets. It was a little sticky with the new ball with the shine on. After the shine was gone, I felt, it slowed down a bit and we could have bowled second, but then that's again hindsight and we could have batted way better. (on the two debutant seamers) Absolutely, I think I've not seen them a lot domestically, but I think I played Sakib once when I played against Bihar versus Assam. But they bowled beautifully. I felt the pressure they had with the home crowd supporting and chanting their names and stuff like that. I felt the way they bowled the first four overs, first four, five overs, I think really was beautiful. (on not bowling Jadeja) I felt we started really well. Probably could have done a few things here and there. Jaddu bhai, I don't know, just split second decision. Ishan was batting really well, so I didn't want to take that chance. Trusted Bishnoi with the overs. But I felt they were 30 over par for sure with the way the wicket was playing. As far as batting is concerned, I think being five wickets down for nine runs and still getting 160, that says a lot about the depth of our batting. (move on from this defeat?) Absolutely, like I said, it's just a blip and we move ahead to Kolkata and do something better."

Stats by Roshan Gede

Most consecutive wins vs RR in the IPL
6 - CSK (2010-2013)
5 - RCB (2019-2022)
5 - DC (2018-2020)
5* - SRH (2023-2026)
SRH have now won six out of seven games vs RR at RGS, Hyderabad.

India players with 4-fers in their maiden IPL spell
4/24 - Shadab Jakati (CSK) vs DC, Johannesburg, 2009
4/24 - Ashwani Kumar (MI) vs KKR, Mumbai WS, 2025
4/24 - Sakib Hussain (SRH) vs RR, Hyderabad, 2026
4/29 - Paul Valthaty (PBKS) vs Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad, 2011
4/34 - Praful Hinge (SRH) vs RR, Hyderabad, 2026
(All of them uncapped)

4-fers on IPL debut
6/12 - Alzarri Joseph (MI) vs SRH, Hyderabad, 2019
5/17 - Andrew Tye (GL) vs RPS, Rajkot, 2017
4/11 - Shoaib Akhtar (KKR) vs DC, Kolkata, 2008
4/26 - Kevon Cooper (RR) vs PBKS, Jaipur, 2012
4/24 - Ashwani Kumar (MI) vs KKR, Mumbai WS, 2025
4/24 - Sakib Hussain (SRH) vs RR, Hyderabad, 2026
4/33 - David Wiese (RCB) vs MI, Bengaluru, 2015
4/34 - Praful Hinge (SRH) vs RR, Hyderabad, 2026
This was Hinge’s just second appearance in Men’s T20s. Kevon Cooper, Ashwani Kumar, Sakib Hussain and Praful Hinge are the uncapped players in this list.

Two individual 4-fers in an IPL innings
Munaf Patel & Kieron Pollard (MI) vs RR, Mumbai WS, 2012
Mitchell Starc & Sreenath Aravind (RCB) vs PBKS, Bengaluru, 2015
Mohammed Shami & Mohit Sharma (GT) vs SRH, Ahmedabad, 2023
Praful Hinge & Sakib Hussain (SRH) vs RR, Hyderabad, 2026 (both on debut)

This was the second time that SRH seamers bagged 10 wickets in an IPL game, after they did that vs MI in Visakhapatnam in 2016.

This was the 10th instance of Indian seamers combining for eight or more wickets in an IPL innings - three for SRH, the most for a team, after they did that vs PBKS twice previously (Mohali 2017 and Mumbai DYP 2022).

RR’s 159 - the first instance of a team going past 150 in an IPL game after losing their first five wickets for under 20.
(RR’s 9/5 was in fact the second-lowest IPL score at the fall of the fifth wicket, only behind 6/5 for KTK vs Deccan Chargers in Kochi in 2011)

23:18 Local Time, 17:48 GMT, 23:18 IST: Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain! Two debutants who destroy the mighty RR batting lineup. Who would've written such a script! No wonder Ishan Kishan is grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat. The game was practically over by the end of the third over when RR slipped to 9/5. First time a bowler has taken a three-wicket haul in the opening over in IPL and that distinction goes to Hinge. On debut on one of the grandest stages in cricket. This is what dreams are made up of. And it has come true for the man from Vidarbha. Sooryavanshi went first-ball and the celebrations that followed the wicket showed how much that meant. Two more followed in the first over and RR's batting lineup was sliced open like a knife on hot butter. Jadeja and Ferreira though didn't give up, with the latter muscling his way to some big hits. Sakib came on to dismiss Ferreira and from there, SRH closed it out quite comfortably. The bowling coach of SRH - Varun Aaron is one happy man. He was seen smiling throughout the RR batting innings. A masterstroke from SRH to bring in Hinge and Sakib for this game. Credit to them. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

Eshan Malinga to Tushar Deshpande, THATS OUT!! Caught!!