Vidarbha’s Praful Hinge,  24, etched his name into the IPL record books on debut, striking three times in his very first over – the only instance of a bowler achieving this in the league’s 18-year history – as Sunrisers Hyderabad [SRH] stunned table-toppers Rajasthan Royals [RR] at home to snap a two-match losing streak.

SRH had piled up 216 on the back of Ishan Kishan’s 91, an effort that would’ve headlined most nights if not for Hinge’s sensational opening over, which included the wicket of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for a golden duck.

But Hinge wasn’t the only one to mark his arrival onto the big stage with a grandstand beginning. Another debutant, Bihar’s Sakib Hussain,  struck at the other end as well, causing RR to crash to 5 for 4, and then 9 for 5. The game was effectively sealed right there. The two debutants finished with combined figures of 8 for 58.

In some ways, it felt destined. Hinge was set to debut in SRH’s previous game, against Punjab Kings, after being named at the toss, only for the team management to have a late change of heart and sub in Jaydev Unadkat instead. A game later, Hinge had a moment he would cherish forever.

Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood weren’t spared, but Hinge didn’t carry any baggage. A hard-length delivery into the pitch had Vaibhav Sooryavanshi top-edge a pull to wicketkeeper Salil Arora for a golden duck. One ball later, Hinge had the in-form Dhruv Jurel chop on, and then capped off the first over by having Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who replaced Shimron Hetmyer, flick one straight to long leg.

At the other end was Sakib, who also celebrated a special moment when he sent Yashasvi Jaiswal back by having him ramp a short ball straight to deep third, leaving the score at an eye-popping 2 for 4. That soon became 9 for 5 when Hinge had Riyan Parag caught at slip after he had been whipped through midwicket for four. Sakib added three more wickets to his kitty, all off slower variations, to finish with 4 for 24. That included strikes off consecutive deliveries to dismiss Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi late in the innings.

Just before Sakib capped off a dream night, RR’s sixth-wicket pair brought up their fifty-run partnership off 35 deliveries, ensuring they didn’t lose any further wickets until the half-way mark. There was a visible shift in their approach from that point on, with the next four overs going for 50 runs. Even so, the ask was a steep one, with RR needing 97 off the last six overs. That pressure finally told, as both Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja fell in consecutive overs before SRH sealed victory.

But while he was at the crease, Ferreira gave a good account of himself, particularly in his handling of spinners. Quick to get to the pitch or rock back to pull, he was severe on both Shivang Kumar and Harsh Dubey as he raised a maiden IPL fifty off 31 balls. But his dismissal, followed by Jadeja’s, opened the floodgates for Sakib.

[Cricinfo]

The toss is crucial in night matches at Wankhede Stadium with a true flat pitch and dew giving the chasing side a significant advantage. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost that toss. Then went ahead and did what you need to do: score the highest IPL score at the ground, 240, and defended it with considerable ease.

Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar set RCB up with knocks of 78 off 36 and 53 off 20, Patidar’s fastest fifty. The duo hit a hat-trick of sixes once each with Salt also taking three fours in a row. A total of 11 sixes and 10 fours flew off their bats, resulting in RCB chants at Mumbai Indians’ home ground. Between them they compensated for Virat Kohli, who himself didn’t seem too pleased with his 50 off 38 even as the other end kept producing big runs.

Prasidh Krishna is beginning to make a mark at IPL 2026. Three nights after his clever slower bouncer to David Miller sealed a tense last-ball win over Delhi Capitals, he followed it up with 4 for 28 – blending typical Test-match lengths with sharp pace-off variations – as Gujarat Titans made it two in two, this time edging out Lucknow Super Giants in their own backyard on Sunday.

Mohammed Siraj and Ashok Sharma were just as vital at the two ends of LSG’s innings, striking early and closing things out respectively. They played the perfect supporting acts to Prasidh’s headline-grabbing performance to restrict LSG to 164. GT captain Shubman Gill then calmly anchored the chase, scoring a half-century off 34 balls. His second-wicket stand of 84 with Jos Buttler helped them scale the target in 18.4 overs with seven wickets in hand.

The mini-battle to watch was Mohammed Shami vs Gill: India’s bowling veteran looking to force his way back into the international reckoning, up against the country’s current Test and ODI captain. Shami had set it up nicely, conceding just 10 runs off his first two overs, with enough movement to keep Gill honest.

It had all the makings of a proper contest. Until Gill consigned it to one-way traffic in the third, as he peeled off three fours and a six. That six was no ordinary hit, but a lofted hit on the up, straight over Shami’s head, eliciting an extra second’s pose to the cameras. The boundaries were pleasing too: a delectable leg glance, a stab through the covers, and a wristy flick over midwicket. This helped Gill gallop towards a half-century.

Buttler gave more than an inkling of form in the previous game when he made 52 off 27 against DC. Having come in at the fall of Sai Sudharsan’s wicket – he helped a half-tracker straight to short fine off Digvesh Rathi in the sixth- Buttler punched one through the covers off the third ball to raise GT’s fifty.

Rathi was unlucky not to have Buttler in his second over when he nicked behind, for Rishabh Pant to put down a regulation chance on 12. LSG would rue that missed opportunity as Buttler quickly took charge to dismantle the spinners, forcing Pant to turn to his faster men quickly.

In came Avesh Khan with a plan of trying to hit hard lengths but Buttler responded by hitting him for three back-to-back fours off the 12th over, and soon brought up his half-century, his 100th in T20s, off just 29 balls. By now, the chase was down to being a mere formality. He celebrated the fifty by reverse-sweeping Linde over point.

Gill fell with the target in sight, gloving a short ball behind off Prince Yadav, but Buttler stayed on to seal victory.

Kagiso Rabada began by being hit for 10 off his first two deliveries, but had Mitchell Marsh pick out mid-on to complete a fine comeback as GT struck early. This brought Rishabh Pant to the middle, and he seemed keen on taking the attack to the bowlers, but was snaffled by Siraj’s hard lengths as the ball caught the splice and lobbed to mid-off to leave LSG 45 for 2 in the fifth.

One second, Prasidh had hands on his head when Aiden Markram’s imperious flick just eluded a diving Glenn Phillips running across from deep square leg. Three balls later, he celebrated his first when Markram picked out deep midwicket perfectly. In his second over, Ayush Badoni fell in almost identical fashion as LSG slumped to 74 for 4 in the ninth.

That brought Nicholas Pooran to the middle, but this wasn’t the white-ball destroyer, but an avatar searching for form and confidence; his stroke play lacked any kind of fluency as the faster men kept tucking him up. Pooran seemed to have found a release when he hit Rashid Khan for back-to-back sixes, but that surge was all too brief with the end almost tame as he flat-batted Prasidh’s into-the-pitch delivery to Gill at mid-off. Pooran made 19 off 21.

He should’ve been run out off his third delivery when he tried to pinch a single to cover, but Ashok Sharma missed the stumps at the striker’s end despite having all three stumps to aim at from short cover. Then Mukul was hit on the helmet by a 150.2kph bouncer from Ashok.

But not long after, the trademark whip behind square that he unleashed to astonishment in Kolkata three nights ago,  made an appearance, eliciting hopes of a grandstand finish. But that wasn’t to be as he got a big nick behind attempting to pull Prasidh’s slower bouncer. His 18 off 14 helped LSG nudge past 150, before Shami and Linde’s mini-cameo set up a 165-target.

Six overs in, it became increasingly evident those were at least 30-40 runs too little.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 165 for 3 in 18.4 overs  (Sai Sudarsan 15, Jos Buttler 60, Shubman Gill 56, Washington Sundar 21*, Rahul Tewatia 10*; Mohammed Shami 1-36, Prince Yadav 1-31, Digvesh Rathi 1-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 164 for 8 in 20 overs  (Aiden Markram 30, Mitchell Marsh 11, Rishabh Pant 18, Nicholas Pooran 19, Abdul Samad 18, Mukul Choudhary 18, George Linde 16, Mohammed Shami 12*; Mohammed Siraj 1-19, Kagiso Rabada 1-54, Ashok Sharma 2-32, Prasidh Krishna  4-28)  by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]