File photo of Abdul Samad.
As Sunrisers Hyderabad took on Delhi Capitals in match 11 of Indian Premier League 2020 on Tuesday, the day became a momentous occasion for Jammu and Kashmir cricketer as he made his debut in the cash-rich league.
Hailing from Jammu, the all-rounder became the second J&K cricketer to play in IPL after Parvez Rasool, who played for the same outfit.
Abdul was bought for INR 20 lakh by 2017 IPL champion Sunrisers Hyderabad. Abdul's journey from Jammu to IPL was not easy as he credited his success to former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan. The former cricketer, who mentors J&K cricket team, also recommended the player to SRH mentor and former India teammate VVS Laxman.
Abdul has a decent record in domestic cricket, in 11 T20s he has slammed 240 runs at 136.36 strike rate. While, he has played only 8 List A ODIs, in which he scored 237 at an excellent strike rate of 125.39. He also made his Ranji debut last season, in which he managed to score 592 runs in 10 first-class matches
Pathan, who is mentor of J&K cricket, too tweeted about the same and said, "Another feather added to Jammu & Kashmir’s cricketing fraternity as Abdul Samad is all set to make his ipl debut. I wish him the luck for his long career ahead! I am certain, this will create positive waves in J&K’s younger generations; who will look up to this upcoming Hero!".
Back in May, in an exclusive interview with IndiaTV, Abdul recalled his journey from Jammu's Ustad Mohalla to the cash-rich IPL.
"I am a resident of Ustad Mohalla of Jammu and Irfan Pathan took our trial in Science College here. In which many players took part and I was selected by Irfan Bhai for the cricket team of Jammu and Kashmir State," Abdul Samad told IndiaTV.
Abdul, who is known for his hard-hitting batting and leg-spin, said that Irfan saw potential in him and gave him confidence that he can score a century too.
"When Irfan Bhai met me, he told me that you get out after scoring 30 - 35 runs and tell me to work on that. He told me you can also score a century," Abdul said.
