J&K teen Samad impresses in first IPL outing

‘People back home have a lot of expectations from me, I hope to do well’

SunRisers Hyderabad's all-rounder Abdul Samad has said that hitting Delhi Capitals' pacer Anrich Nortje for a six has given him a lot of confidence to do well going forward in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season.

Samad came in place of Mohammad Nabi.

With this, Samad became the third player of Jammu and Kashmir to play in the IPL. Parveez Rasool and Rasikh Salam are the other two players to have played at least one match in the IPL.

SRH defeated Delhi Capitals by 15 runs on Tuesday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Batting first, SRH had posted a total of 162/4 in the allotted twenty overs. Jonny Bairstow and David Warner had put on an opening stand of 77 runs. Warner played a knock of 45 runs while Bairstow played an innings of 53 runs.

Kane Williamson also chipped in with 41 runs to take SRH's total past the 160-run mark.

For Delhi, Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with the figures of 2-21 from his four overs.

Samad remained unbeaten on Hyderabad, scoring 12 runs and he also managed to hit one six off the bowling of Anrich Nortje.

"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, I hope to do well," Samad told Rashid Khan in a video posted on iplt20.com.

"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," he added.

The 18-year-old Samad had made his first-class, List A and T20 debut for Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

SunRisers Hyderabad will next take on Chennai Super Kings on October 2 while Delhi Capitals will lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders on October 3.