SRH Debutants Praful & Sakib Shine as Varun Aaron's "Enjoy" Plan Works

Varun, who played a major role in scouting both the young pacers for SRH, revealed that his only message for Sakib and Praful before the match was to enjoy the debut game and not think about the result, which worked in the team's favour.

"My only plan for them was to just enjoy the game because you debut only once in any format of cricket. Considering where they've come from, what they've done today is massive, and you've just got to enjoy it. My only plea before the game was that if I didn't see them enjoying it, I'd be really angry, and they truly did enjoy it. We all did," Varun told reporters after the match.

Varun also lauded the conviction of Praful to get the wicket of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Revealing the pre-match conversation, the former Indian fast bowler said, "The conversation was that he wanted to go around the wicket, and I was like, 'No, you just stay over the wicket. I'm sure you'll get him out."

"I mean, it's teamwork, you know. At the end of the day, all credit goes to Praful. He had the conviction to get Vaibhav out. He said, 'I've gotten Vaibhav out before, I'm going to get him out today. But the plan was his, the conviction was his, and I'm really happy for him," Varun added.

Praful had a dream debut as he picked three wickets in his very first over, becoming the first bowler in IPL history to take three wickets in the opening over of an innings. He registered the figures of 4-34 in his four overs over quota.

Hussain, who came in as an Impact Sub for Travis Head, picked 4-24, including the wicket of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, before dismantling RR's lower order.

With the help of contributions from both the bowlers, SRH bowled out RR for just 159 in 19 overs while chasing a mammoth total of 218 runs, and registered their second win of the season.

- IANS