Former India player Aakash Chopra has applauded SRH pacer Praful Hinge for bowling a match-winning spell in their match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). He added that the youngster had endured hardships before shining in his first chance in the IPL as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “He didn’t want to become a fast bowler always. He wanted to become a batter, but his father asked him to focus more on bowling. In fact, there was a question raised on his action. So he worked on that as well. He comes from a very humble background. He didn’t even have money to buy shoes.”
“He was about to make his debut in the last match. Ishan Kishan said at the toss that it was Praful Hinge’s debut, but the pitch was slow, and they brought in Jaydev Unadkat. When he was made to bowl here, he took three wickets in his first over, which included Vaibhav Suryavanshi. A guy who was hitting fours and sixes off the first ball was out on the first ball,” he added.
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“We have said repeatedly that Suryavanshi will be tested with bouncers, but Praful Hinge did that. He took three wickets in an over, which means he had almost finished the match. He had taken four wickets at the start. Five wickets had fallen for 10 runs. The entire story had changed. So Praful Hinge is here to stay, first match, first over, and first Player of the Match, Wow,” Chopra shared again.
However, Aakash Chopra also praised Sakib Hussain for complementing Praful Hinge with the new ball pretty well against RR as well.
“Sakib Hussain, he comes from Bihar. He has been a part of the KKR team. He didn’t get a chance. He is a very skiddy kind of bowler. He bowls the slower one very well. He bowls very well with the old ball. In fact, in the end, if you compare, his analysis was better than even Praful Hinge’s,” he said.
“He wanted to join the army. He liked to play cricket, but cricket is a tough pursuit. It’s very difficult to play cricket. He also played and picked up four wickets. Two young uncapped Indians split eight wickets between them and destroyed a team that was undefeated thus far,” Chopra concluded.
