How a technical tweak helped correct Praful Hinge’s back issue

CHENNAI: On Monday evening, by the time the general public found out who Praful Hinge was, he had already scalped three wickets in his maiden IPL. Since then, “Who is Praful Hinge?” » has been trending.

An uncapped seamer, Praful finished with astonishing figures of 4-34 for Sunrisers Hyderabad on his IPL debut. Right after the match, the Sunrisers Hyderabad player thanked Chennai’s MRF Pace Foundation for helping him recover from a back injury. “I want to thank MRF for taking really good care of me,” Praful said.

At the foundation, the 24-year-old from Nagpur got an opportunity to pick the mind of former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath, who is the coaching director. McGrath has built a magnificent career on relentless accuracy, and it’s one of many tricks that Praful seems to have taken from him, evident in the way he swings the new ball at pace while keeping a tight line and length.

Speaking to TOI, Pace Foundation head coach M Senthilnathan said Praful’s progress began by tackling both his fitness and a technical flaw.

“What we and Glenn saw in him is that he has quite solid length with the new ball. He gets some deflection and allows balls to move. We selected him in 2023 and when he came to us he had back problems. We focused on his physical condition and improved it through rehabilitation. We also analyzed and found the reason for his back problem. It was because he had a technical defect, we so we tweaked it,” Senthilnathan said.

“And then he did well in that under-23 season that year, and in 2024, when he was much better and was selected for the Ranji Trophy (for Vidarbha). He is now a front-line bowler for them,” the former Tamil Nadu cricketer said, “He also traveled with us to Australia in 2024 on the exchange program with Cricket Australia and the Foundation.”

Senthilnathan noted that McGrath was instrumental in helping Praful understand the importance of bowling in the right areas and handling pressure.

“With McGrath at center and his vast experience, there are definitely certain things that came to Praful’s mind while he was training with us. Like how to bowl during different phases of the game, how to come back from a bad ball, how not to overdo it. Mentally, these things can only come from someone who has played at this level. That’s what Glenn does,” Senthilnathan said.