Samad remained unbeaten on 12 off 7 balls in SRH’s total of 162 for 4 against Delhi Capital’s

SRINAGAR: Abdul Samad, a talented 18-year-old cricketer from Jammu, became the third player from Jammu and Kashmir to play in the Indian Premier League.
The hard hitting all-rounder, who was bagged by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 20 lakhs during last year’s auction, was handed his debut by the franchise against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi.
Samad remained unbeaten on 12 off 7 balls in SRH’s total of 162 for 4 against Delhi. Samad had a reputation of being a big-hitter even before he got to play his first game and showed glimpses of that during his brief knock in which he his a four and a huge six to finish with a strike rate of over 171.
Talking about his debut knock, Samad said he was given the freedom to play his natural game by the SRH team management.
“Felt really well playing here in my first game. I hit a huge six which gave me a lot of confidence. People back home have a lot of expectations from me and hope I’ll do good in the future games,” Samad, told Rashid Khan after the match.
The youngster from Rajouri had an incredible outing in the domestic tournament last season, scoring three centuries and amassing 592 runs. He hit 36 sixes – the most by anyone in the season – which eventually helped Jammu and Kashmir to storm into the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy.
During the first two games of the franchise, Samad was kept on the bench.
Samad became the third player from Jammu and Kashmir – after Parvez Rasool and Rasikh Salam – to feature in an IPL fixture. Earlier, Manzoor Dar, too, was picked for the IPL, but had to warm the bench.

KR Desk