Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) handed a debut to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) all-rounder Abdul Samad when it took on Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
He replaced wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha in the playing XI. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson also came in for SRH spinner Mohammad Nabi, while Delhi included the experienced Ishant Sharma instead of Avesh Khan.
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Samad has a T20 batting average of 40 and he can be handy with his leg-spin as well. The J&K star is coming off a breakout domestic season during which he scored two Ranji Trophy centuries.
The 18-year-old is the only player from the northern-most state of India in the 2020 edition, while Parvez Rasool, Rasikh Salam and Manzoor Dar are the other J&K cricketers bought by IPL teams in the past.
Samad is a power-hitting finisher at the domestic level and he, alongside teammate Shubham Khajuria, had almost helped his team take a first-innings leads over a dominant Karnataka outfit during the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy quarterfinal.