Abdul Samad got another chance to finish a game for Sunrisers Hyderabad, and this time he didn't disappoint his team management, taking SRH home with a last-ball six for a four-wicket win against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Sunday.
Reflecting on the dramatic finish and Samad's unbeaten cameo (17 off 7 balls), the SRH batting coach Hemang Badani said Samad redeemed himself with a match-winning effort as past failures were "hurting" the Jammu and Kashmir batter inside.
The 21-year-old Samad has been with SRH since the 2020 season but given them little return on investment. However, he repaid the faith on Sunday night with a 7-ball 17 in SRH's chase of 215.
SRH needed four runs off the final ball of the game and Samad smashed Sandeep Sharma for a straight six, having been caught off a no-ball the previous delivery.
Glenn Phillips had brought back SRH in the game with a 7-ball 25.
The win keeps SRH alive in the tournament.
"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."
Badani revealed Samad was gutted after the loss to KKR.
"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.
SRH are alive in the race to the playoffs but their chances remain slip as they are placed No. 9 in the 10-team competition.
(With agency inputs)
