The 19-year old Sunrisers Hyderabad batting all-rounder from Jammu and Kashmir, Abdul Samad grabbed a few eyeballs in the last season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and had done enough to start in his side’s playing xi in their first game of the new season against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Sunrisers were in desperate need of some big overs after losing the wicket of Jonny Bairstow in the 13th over as they still needed 86 runs off just 42 balls to win. In came, the experienced Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, he hit a couple of good shots before he got out and then came Vijay Shankar, who too went back to the pavilion after hitting a six.
Finally, after the SRH side lost their fifth wicket at the end of the 18th over when the hard-hitting all-rounder Samad came in. He didn’t need any sighters as the first ball against Pat Cummins and he hit that out of the ground. A back-of-length delivery just outside off, Samad stood tall maintaining a solid base and picked the bones out of it.
If this wasn’t enough, a couple of deliveries later, Samad showed some more of it. A slot ball by Cummins this time and Samad dispatched the ball straight down the ground. If only, he had come two overs earlier, who knows things could have been different.
Along with cricketers Irfan Pathan, Aakash Chopra, the fans expressed their frustration at Samad being sent in so late in the batting order. Many users suggested that a batsman like Samad, who can hit from ball one should have been in earlier in place of the two batsmen, who came before him.