SRH's star leg spinner Rashid Khan produced a game changing spell to take 3 wickets for just 14 runs and play a match winning role in his team's opening win of the season. While Rashid hogged the limelight with his bowling heroics, a teen youngster from J-K making his IPL debut also turned a few heads with his brief but impactful cameo with the willow for the winning 'Orange Army'.
It was great sight to see Sunrisers Hyderabad's established leg spinner and Man of the Match Rashid Khan talking to the debutant Abdul Samad after the match ended and sharing their experience about their roles in winning SRH the game against DC on the green turf.
Rashid began the conversation by telling Samad that he felt that by bowling quicker on the Abu Dhabi deck he could generate more spin on the ball and he employed the tactic in his match winning performance against
"Initially, when I bowled my first ball, I was able to get turn, so I realised the ball is turning and I also summarised that the ball is turning more when I am bowling it quicker," Rashid told his teammate Abdul Samad in a video posted on iplt20.com after the match.
"I tried bowling in just the right areas and was looking to bowl dot balls to create pressure on the Delhi batsmen," he added.
Abdul Samad, the hard hitting teen batting sensation from J-K, who played his maiden IPL game against DC told Rashid that he gained a lot of confidence from the six he hit off tearaway Proteas speedster Anrich Nortje during his quick-fire 17-run cameo and the performance will help him fare well in the upcoming matches.
Samad who is only the third player to play in the IPL told Rashid that he had a lot of expectations riding on his back form people his homeland and desires to fulfill their expectations.
"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," said 18-year-old Samad who scored 12 runs from seven balls.
"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.
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