IPL 2023: Abdul Samad was desperate to finish game after failing to do so against KKR, says Hemang Badani

Add as a preferred source on Google

Jaipur, May 8: Sunrisers Hyderabad batting coach Hemang Badani has said Jammu and Kashmir batter Abdul Samad was desperate to show his worth to the team and did exactly that in the run chase over Rajasthan Royals on Sunday (May 7).

The 21-year-old has been with SRH since the 2020 season but had given them little return on investment. However, he repaid the faith with a 7-ball 17 in SRH's chase of 215 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

SRH needed four runs off the final ball of the game and Samad smashed Sandeep Sharma for a straight six, having being caught off a no ball the previous delivery.

Badani revealed Samad was gutted after the loss to Kolkata Knight Riders. Badani said Samad redeemed himself with a match-winning effort against RR as past failures were "hurting" the batter inside.

"I have to give full marks to Samad. He was the first one to come up to me after the last game and said 'I should have finished the game'. He took ownership of it. He didn't finish well and was unhappy about it.

"He was thinking that 'I am a retained player and I want to show the team that I am worth its time and investment'. "A few sides have tried doing certain things against him and we have worked on that. One of them did come off this evening," added Badani.

Before Samad's finish, Glenn Phillips had brought back SRH in the game with a 7-ball 25. The win keeps SRH alive in the tournament and Badani was happy with the response following the defeat to KKR in the last match.

"It is a great win for us because it gives us momentum. A few games could have been a different for us, especially the last game against KKR in which we needed 9 off the last over. We could not finish that. Also the game against Delhi at home should have been finished by us," Badani said.

"It will give a lot of belief to guys like Samad as we would have felt he missed out on a couple of times and to have done it here, the next time he will bat differently in a similar situation."

Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are on 8 points from 10 matches, will next face playoff aspirants Lucknow Super Giants at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday (May 13).

(With PTI inputs)