SRH's Hinge finds fame in IPL after long injury layoff

The one person Praful Hinge thanked while accepting the player of the match award after his life-changing spell of fast bowling on IPL debut was Naveen Babu, the physio at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai with whom the Nagpur bowler spent six months for rehab after a stress fracture of the back.

- Rasesh Mandal

SRH pacer Praful Hinge (C) during the match against RR.

(AFP)

‘A physio is indeed a fast bowler’s best friend. In 2023, forget the IPL stage, Hinge hadn't even started playing for his state team. He was just an upcoming U23 Vidarbha talent— untapped, raw, and broken physically and mentally due to the back injury. From the high of being picked for the foundation with the prospect of working with Glenn McGrath, Hinge was staring at months of inactivity and rehab.

“Rehabs can be long and boring. Praful was patient and determined. For the first six weeks he had to go back home and rest. After that I had every session planned for him based on his progression with milestones set for each phase,” Babu recalls. “Handing him over to S&C (strength and conditioning) was delayed, his bowling workload charted out with help from our analyst Raja. We delayed his comeback by a month. Once fully fit, he went on to become the highest wicket-taker in U23s and got selected for the Indian Emerging team.”