SRH vs DC: Why is Praful Hinge not playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad despite sensational IPL debut?

Sunrisers Hyderabad surprised many fans by leaving out young pacer Praful Hinge from the playing XI in their IPL 2026 clash against Delhi Capitals, despite his impressive debut performance earlier in the season.

At the toss, SRH captain Ishan Kishan confirmed that Hinge is not part of the playing XI for this match. While he did not give a direct reason for the decision, Kishan mentioned that the team has made a few changes, including bringing in Dilshan Madushanka and Harsh Dubey.

"It's hard to decide, but I don't think this is a similar wicket. A few changes: Madushanka comes in and Harsh Dubey is back as well. Praful Hinge is not playing. Executing plans is the way to go, we'll take one match at a time and execute them," he said.

More from Firstcricket

Also Read: SRH vs DC Match Prediction: Who will win today’s IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals?

Interestingly, Hinge has been included in the Impact Player list, which means he can still come into the game later if needed. Kishan hinted at this by saying that executing plans according to the wicket is important and the team is focusing on taking one game at a time.

On the other side, DC captain Axar Patel also spoke about team balance at the toss after winning it and choosing to bowl first. He explained that with a big squad, it becomes important to pick the best possible XI based on conditions, even if it means some players have to sit out. Delhi made one change to their lineup, with Nitish Rana coming in for Auqib Nabi.

SRH vs DC: Playing XIs and Impact Subs

DC bowling-first XI: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul (wk), Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (c), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar

DC Impact Subs: Tripurana Vijay, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Auqib Nabi.

SRH batting-first XI: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora (wk), Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivang Kumar, Harsh Dubey, Sakib Hussain, Eshan Malinga

SRH Impact Subs: R Smaran, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Dilshan Madushanka, Harshal Patel