Samad made 12* with a huge six against DC.
Before the match, SRH handed a debut cap for their 18-year-old all-rounder Abdul Samad, who hails from Kala Kot, Jammu, and Kashmir. He made his FC, List A, and T20 debut for J&K in 2019 and so far has impressed with his hitting abilities as he boasts of a strike rate of 136.36 in T20s and 125.39 in List-A.
Samad was bought by SRH in the IPL 2020 auction for his base price, looking to replace the experienced Yusuf Pathan. Incidentally, Yusuf’s brother Irfan Pathan is the mentor-coach of the J&K team and was responsible for fine-tuning Samad’s game.
Abdul Samad ended the 2019-20 Ranji season with 592 runs on in 17 innings with two tons and three half-centuries at a strike-rate of 112.97. His average of 39.46 was also the best for J&K.
Meanwhile, he also impressed in the short time he was on pitch on his debut for SRH against DC, as he made 12* in 7 balls, including an 80-plus meter long six off Anrich Nortje.
His debut was noticed by Irfan Pathan who tweeted, “Another feather added to Jammu & Kashmir’s cricketing fraternity as Abdul Samad is all set to make his ipl debut.I wish him luck for his long career ahead! I am certain, this will create positive waves in J&K’s younger generations; who will look upto this upcoming Hero! #ipl”
Also elated at Samad bringing much glory to J&K was former CM of the former state, Omar Abdullah, who tweeted, “So good to see another youngster from J&K get his IPL cap. #AbdulSamad got his @SunRisers cap this evening. Here’s hoping his career goes from strength to strength.”