Praful Hinge: Has the IPL discovered a new star? - Stumped podcast, BBC World Service

0:08 Hello, I'm Nikesh Rughani and welcome to Stumped.

0:11 I'm joined by Jim Maxwell for the ABC in Sydney.

0:14 And Sunil Gupta is in Delhi for Akashvani.

0:18 Another star is born in the IPL after 24-year-old debutant Praful

0:22 Hinge struck three times in his very first over as his side,

0:27 Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals.

0:30 The seamer's haul included dismissing Vaibhav

0:32 Sooryavanshi for a first ball duck.

0:34 It's also the first time in the league's 18 year history that a bowler

0:39 has taken three wickets in the opening over of an IPL match.

0:43 Sunil, we often talk about breakout stars in the IPL.

0:46 I mean, what a debut that was for Hinge in the IPL.

0:50 Tell us more about him.

0:51 He started playing rather late at the age

0:53 of 13 and initially didn't play with a leather ball.

0:55 He played with a tennis ball,

0:56 but then he told his father to enroll him in a club in Nagpur.

0:59 That's where he came from.

1:00 So it's a big city and a very supportive family.

1:04 And he plays for Vidarbha.

1:05 That's where Umesh Yadav comes from; the speedster

1:08 since 2024 in red and white ball cricket.

1:11 He's been part of the India A team

1:13 and the under 19 teams but hasn't really made a mark.

1:17 And of course he's playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,

1:21 India's domestic T20 tournament.

1:23 And he recorded some of the best bowling figures of the season.

1:26 But as so often happens with India's speedsters, especially when they're young,

1:31 a lower back injury threatened to cut short his career,

1:35 which prompted a visit to the MRF Foundation,

1:38 the pace foundation in Chennai, which, as you know,

1:41 Glenn McGrath is the director of the Pace Academy over

1:45 there and over there it was the chief coach, M Senthilnathan.

1:50 He said that his progress began by addressing both

1:53 his fitness and the technical flaw that caused that back injury.

1:58 So he worked under Glenn McGrath for quite some time,

2:00 and the overall report that McGrath gave was that he was a fine prospect.

2:04 These are his words, which was evident in the way that he swings the new

2:08 ball at pace while holding a tight line and length.

2:12 And I wonder who else did that in his career besides Glenn McGrath?

2:17 It was him.

2:19 But what was heartwarming about Praful Hinge?

2:22 Not just taking those wickets and winning the player of the match, was that he,

2:28 while accepting that player of the match award,

2:31 he took care to mention the physio at the MRF pace foundation.

2:38 His name was Naveen Babu who looked after him for six months

2:41 and I thought that that was really lovely of him to actually mention that.

2:44 He could have mentioned everybody else,

2:46 which he did, but he actually never forgot him.

2:48 Sunil.

2:49 He's also evidently a very confident young man.

2:53 He spoke about the fact that he'd written down

2:56 somewhere that when he eventually makes his IPL debut,

2:59 he's going to take four or five wickets in his opening match.

3:02 Obviously he took three in the first over.

3:04 Took four in the innings.

3:05 So I guess, you know these things can come

3:07 true if you manifest them in the right way.

3:10 But it's good to see that confidence from the young man.

3:13 The IPL has a habit of plucking out these stars from nowhere, doesn't it?

3:18 I mean, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who we've spoken about numerous times,

3:21 one of my favourites was probably at the other end of the scale,

3:24 an older player that came through Pravin Tambe in the earlier days of the IPL,

3:29 sort of made his debut into his late 30s,

3:31 played into his mid 40s and had so much success

3:34 after just playing club cricket for most of his life.

3:37 I mean, this is clearly another case

3:40 of amazing scouting networks across India, isn't it?

3:44 Yeah, it's also the fact that the IPL

3:46 gives these youngsters an opportunity which wasn't there earlier.

3:49 It gives them opportunity.

3:51 It gives them money which for many of them is very, very important.

3:55 We've heard of people like Rinku Singh who also made a splash,

3:58 if you remember, a couple of years ago.

4:00 And he also came from very straitened circumstances.

4:03 So yes, absolutely.

4:04 I mean, the IPL throws up these figures, but they take their chances.

4:07 I think that is the critical thing.

4:09 In fact, Praful Hinge was supposed to play an earlier game,

4:11 I think against Punjab.

4:13 And then he was left out.

4:15 And I think Jaydev Unadkat played in his place.

4:18 And then finally he came into this particular game and he made it count.

4:21 And I think that is really what shows a person's temperament,

4:25 especially a youngster who's making his debut and against such a big side.

4:29 So I think that is the important thing that having made this impact and having

4:34 talked so much about what he wrote and how he was able to fulfill it,

4:39 that he continues on that path, doesn't let it go to his head.

4:43 I think that's absolutely right.

4:44 There are others also Nikesh, if you want to talk about those.

4:47 Just over the years you talked about Pravin Tambe.

4:50 That was a fairy tale wasn't it?

4:51 I mean, the leg spinner who came in the late 30s and made a mark actually.

4:56 But in the same game, and we haven't talked enough about him.

4:59 The same game where he took four for 34.

5:01 There was another debutant by the name of Sakib Hussain,

5:05 who came from from Bihar,

5:08 where Sooryavanshi comes from and but his father was a daily

5:13 labourer and he picked up four for 24 and the other one,

5:17 and this is what I want to talk about is Umran Malik.

5:19 You must have heard about him.

5:20 He was the pace bowling sensation, bowling at 150,

5:23 155 from Jammu and Kashmir, and he came in.

5:27 In his first season or second season,

5:30 he took 22 wickets in 14 games and then fell away.

5:33 Fell away because he didn't have variety, he didn't have variations.

5:36 And of course, then he got that back

5:38 injury and now he's playing at $75K for KKR.

5:42 He was bought at that point of time for $500,000.

5:47 So you can go up.

5:48 You can go down on the ladder.

5:50 The fact is yes, it keeps throwing up new stars.

5:52 It's a question of how they make their mark on an ongoing basis.

5:56 I think that's the important thing.

5:58 Absolutely.

5:58 And it's about grabbing that opportunity.

6:01 And one man that certainly has grabbed the opportunity,

6:04 one of the wickets that Hinge took there, as we mentioned Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

6:08 He's only 15 years old, Jim.

6:11 I mean you know he's been talked about all around the world.

6:14 I'm sure in Australia there's a lot of hype

6:16 about this young man who's pulling up trees,

6:18 not only in the IPL but also in the under

6:21 19 World Cup for India in that victorious campaign.

6:25 I mean, judging by what he's done there, Jim,

6:27 and by what he's doing in the IPL against top bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah,

6:32 do you think he's ready for a full international debut now,

6:35 or do you think we should just manage those expectations?

6:38 I mean he is only 15 years old.

6:41 Let's reiterate that.

6:42 Well he's obviously got some ability now whether he

6:46 can maintain a continuity of performance and be resilient enough,

6:50 it'll be a big question.

6:53 And Sunil might like to tell us about his record so far in the Ranji Trophy,

6:58 because I gather it's nowhere near as flattering as it is in T20 cricket.

7:03 So it's a bit of the Kambli-itis at the moment with young people.

7:07 You've got to wait and see if they can sustain it, that it's not just meteoric,

7:12 but certainly he's come in with a bang, big big bang.

7:17 Can he continue to do that?

7:19 Sunil I don't think his record is very distinguished so far,

7:23 is it, in other red ball forms of the game?

7:26 No they aren't, because I've noticed them when they come up in the newspapers.

7:30 But you're absolutely right.

7:32 And actually that reflects upon India's red ball

7:34 performance over the past year, year and a half,

7:37 where at home India has lost to New Zealand three-nil; to South Africa too.

7:42 New Zealand has never beaten us in India before.

7:45 And now three-nil.

7:46 I mean, it was complete.

7:47 It was ridiculous on spinning tracks.

7:50 Similarly for South Africa.

7:52 Then we drew in England and of course lost heavily in Australia.

7:57 So I think what is happening, and that's my personal opinion,

8:00 is that all this emphasis that is being put on white ball cricket.

8:05 Right, right.

8:06 You're winning the T20 World Cups and all that sort of thing.

8:08 That's great.

8:09 But the red ball game is sadly, I think, out of focus somewhere along the line.

8:15 And we're not going to be anywhere near the World Test Championship final.

8:19 Nowhere near that.

8:20 Right.

8:20 And we were there twice in a row many years ago,

8:23 before the last time when Australia played South Africa.

8:26 So I think that is where the problem lies.

8:28 Now as you say, yeah, he can come and bang the ball around for ten overs,

8:33 20 overs, maybe even 30 overs.

8:35 But can he do it in a sustained,

8:38 consistent basis in a red ball game when the pitch is changing,

8:41 when the ball is turning, when their field is close to the bat?

8:44 Well, that jury is still out.

8:46 Well, let's move on to talk about two players

8:49 with a bit more experience than those who we've mentioned so far.

8:53 Jasprit Bumrah and Cameron Green,

8:54 who haven't had the best of starts to the tournament so far.

8:58 We'll start off with Brumah,

8:59 who went wicketless in his first four IPL matches this season,

9:03 which is a rare feat from a bowler of such quality, especially in this format,

9:08 which he performed so well in across his whole career.

9:11 Sunil, is that lack of wickets

9:14 from your main strike bowler for the Mumbai Indians, is that a massive concern?

9:18 Well, I think it really is.

9:20 It really is because actually it's five on the bounce.

9:22 The last game of the last IPL.

9:24 He also he didn't take any wickets.

9:26 So it's actually five.

9:27 But the point is what is happening to Mumbai Indians?

9:31 What is happening to Mumbai Indians?

9:34 What's happening to KKR?

9:35 Both those teams who are iconic teams are languishing at the bottom.

9:39 And of course CSK.

9:40 I mean, who can forget CSK also at the bottom.

9:44 And I think somewhere along the line there comes

9:46 a time when you pass that mark of saying, hey listen,

9:50 you know, I can do this again and again and again,

9:52 or I want to do this again and again and again.

9:55 Who knows inside a person's heart as to what he is feeling.

9:59 And also, there are some problems,

10:00 at least the way the one sees it from outside within the M I team,

10:04 you know the problem of captaincy, for instance, between Pandya and Yadav.

10:10 That's that's there.

10:11 Rohit Sharma who's there in and out and he's out now because he's got an injury.

10:16 So I think there are issues to do with team stability,

10:21 team construction and who's really leading from the front.

10:24 So there's nothing technical or anything like that you you might

10:28 think might be the issue behind Bumrah's struggles so far this season?

10:32 Or is it just maybe a case of too much cricket,

10:35 you know, workload management, those types of things?

10:38 Yeah, I don't think it's workload management.

10:40 I don't think he's really played so much cricket, certainly not the T20 type.

10:45 But somewhere, as I said along the line, you reach a sort of plateau.

10:50 And I think that plateau is what he has actually got.

10:52 And to that plateau.

10:53 He's been he's been shoved up that plateau by what's happening within the team.

10:57 You don't want to be a part of a team that's losing all the time.

10:59 I don't think it's a technical issue from what little I've made out.

11:02 Because, you know, they always come one over

11:04 and then there's a pause and then there's another over.

11:07 It's very difficult to make out also with the state of the game as to, you know,

11:11 what he has to do under those circumstances.

11:13 But if you go back to Sooryavanshi,

11:15 you talk about him talking him for six, two sixes in the over,

11:20 including the first ball that he faced against him that was talked about,

11:23 that really was talked about.

11:25 I think that really made him wake up and say, hello, what's going on?

11:30 That also affected him slightly.

11:31 Yeah, you would think so,

11:33 especially when a 15-year-old is doing that to you, Jim.

11:37 I mean, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has

11:39 said that Bumrah's ability to nail tight yorkers

11:42 and restrict the flow of runs is more

11:45 important than his wicket taking ability or, you know,

11:49 lack of wickets isn't so much of an issue

11:51 as long as he's still doing that and restricting those runs,

11:54 what do you make of that?

11:56 You don't have to be far off the mark to lose a little bit of confidence,

12:01 I suppose, and maybe that's part of it.

12:03 I haven't seen him bowling, but yeah, he's a rhythm bowler.

12:08 He's got a lot of pace,

12:10 but if he's not quite there he's going to go around the park.

12:14 I mean, all bowlers feel this at times when they

12:17 don't get their length right and batsmen tee off against them.

12:22 And particularly in this form of the game you can have a bad run.

12:26 But he's been such a colossal quick strike bowler,

12:32 it's hard to believe that he's lost it all of a sudden.

12:35 But this does happen.

12:37 We've seen it before, so hopefully he can restore himself and be the accurate,

12:43 economical strike bowler that we've got used to.

12:46 But maybe it's just a blip.

12:49 We'll see.

12:50 Sunil, there's been a lot made about the types of surfaces

12:54 and the, I guess the type of tournament the IPL is.

12:57 Would you say it's more of a spinners tournament and fast

13:01 bowlers are basically just there to throw the ball down.

13:04 Is there is there anything any kind of assistance for them

13:07 or is it just a spinners tournament in your view now?

13:10 No, no, no, I don't think that one could classify it either way.

13:14 I mean they're all picking up wickets.

13:16 You have Prasidh Krishna picking up wickets.

13:17 We just talked about Hinge and Hussain.

13:21 We got Anshul Kamboj from the CSK who has also picked up ten wickets.

13:26 And they're all pacers.

13:27 And it's Ravi Bishnoi from the Royals who's a leading spinner with nine wickets.

13:33 And frankly I mean if you look at pace bowlers many

13:35 of them get their wickets from slower deliveries which are about 100, 105kph.

13:40 So you know it is...

13:42 Yes.

13:42 I mean, obviously the pitches, depending on the time of day,

13:46 depending where you are, etcetera, etcetera,

13:48 whether you're in Chennai or whether you're up

13:50 north where they will have a role to play,

13:53 but I don't think that one can classify it either way.

13:56 I personally feel that's my personal feeling

13:59 that the spinners have actually fallen out of favour.

14:03 Jim, let's bring Cameron Green into the conversation.

14:06 It's fair to say, by his standards, not having a great tournament.

14:09 Is this a big worry of Australians were aware of this.

14:14 I mean, you know you've talked previously about the time

14:16 zones not being great with the IPL and the match timings.

14:21 Is there much concern about his form in Australia?

14:24 I think there will be if his run of outs,

14:27 his lack of form with the bat and the fact that he's struggling to bowl.

14:32 He's only had one spell, I think, in one game,

14:35 so maybe that factor is having an effect on his confidence.

14:40 I'm not sure what makes it all add up to his very ordinary performance.

14:45 Pressure of expectation, of course, must be there.

14:47 He's being paid so much money.

14:49 But it will be a concern as Australia eventually, in a few months time,

14:54 moves back to playing Test cricket against Bangladesh in August at home.

15:00 You know, he's going to be under some pressure

15:02 from Webster to keep his place, you would think so.

15:05 Yes, he needs to get some runs.

15:08 Probably needs to bowl a bit more if his body can stand it.

15:11 But yeah, there is a question there at the moment

15:15 about whether or not he's going to regain his composure,

15:18 his confidence, to be the dominant player everyone would like him to be.

15:23 Particularly those people in India who have paid

15:25 a vast amount of money to have him on board.

15:29 And we would talk about that money, actually.

15:31 Do you think the pressure of that price tag of being

15:33 the most expensive overseas signing in IPL history is affecting him?

15:39 I think that would be part of it, yes.

15:42 I mean, when you are not performing

15:45 anywhere near your average, not just your best,

15:48 you do start to have a bit of mental confusion as to where you're going.

15:53 So yeah, I'm sure he's puzzled by it.

15:56 We saw that just before he left, when he had a blow up with the press

16:00 when he was asked a question about his batting,

16:05 his poor form in the in the Test series.

16:08 And he didn't have the usual composure and control that we've seen.

16:13 So yeah, I'm sure he's he's a bit of the muddle-headed wombat

16:17 at the moment in terms of how he's going to get out of this.

16:20 And that will be a concern to him because he's got a lot to play

16:26 for in the short term and in the longer

16:28 term in who knows where his cricket's going to be.

16:31 If he doesn't all of a sudden find some form fairly soon.

16:36 Well, that's it for Stumped this week.

16:37 Join us again next time.

16:38 My thanks to Jim Maxwell and Sunil Gupta.

16:42 Make sure you like and subscribe to our YouTube

16:44 channel so you never miss an episode.

16:47 Until next time, it's bye for now.