Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have seemingly unearthed a brilliant talent in 18-year-old Abdul Samad from Jammu and Kashmir. The youngster made his IPL debut against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the ongoing IPL 2020 and showed a glimpse of his hitting prowess in a cameo of 12* which included a monstrous six off Anrich Nortje as well.
Samad, who made a name for himself playing for J&K in Indian domestic cricket, hogged highlights for his big-hitting adventures as he boasts of a strike rate of 112.97 in FC, 136.36 in T20s, and 125.39 in List-A. He ended his debut Ranji season in 2019-20 with 592 runs in 17 innings with two tons and three half-centuries.
Post his brilliant debut in IPL against DC, Samad had a conversation with his SRH teammate and Player of the Match Rashid Khan from Afghanistan. He said to the leg-spinner that the hit against Anrich Nortje gave him the confidence to perform well in the upcoming matches.
IPL 2020: J&K’s Abdul Samad makes his SRH debut; Irfan Pathan and Omar Abdullah react
"Yeah, I felt really good playing my first match in the IPL. I also hit a big six off the bowling of Anrich Nortje, it gave me confidence that I will be able to do good in the coming games. People back home have a lot of expectations from me and I hope to do well,” the 18-year-old said in a video posted by IPL on their Twitter account.
"Before coming out to bat, the team management had told me to express myself and to play the way I normally do. I started hitting from the first ball, I missed one-two balls, but the six I was able to hit, I got a lot of confidence from that," added the all-rounder from Kashmir.
Here is the video of the entire conversation:
SRH will next take Chennai Super Kings on October 2 in Dubai.
(IANS inputs)