Born on October 28, 2001, Abdul Samad rose to popularity, courtesy his effortless big-hitting prowess. Samad has gone only from strength to strength after Irfan Pathan spotted him in the nets in Jammu & Kashmir as a mentor.
Abdul Samad debuted for Jammu & Kashmir cricket side during Syed Mushtaq Ali 2018-19 season against Nagaland and smacked an unbeaten 76 of 51 balls. Later the same year, he made his List A debut on 27 September 2019, for Jammu & Kashmir in the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He made his first-class debut on 9 December 2019, for J&K in the 2019–20 Ranji Trophy.
He scored his maiden first-class century during J&K's Ranji Trophy against Assam. He scored an unbeaten 103 off just 72 balls, studded with eight sixes and seven fours. His second century 128 came against Jharkhand and it came yet again at more than run-a-ball.
In 10 first-class matches, he scored 592 runs at an impressive average of 39.46 with a strike-rate of 112.97. What was jaw-dropping was the 36 sixes he hit - the most by anyone in the season – that eventually led to J&K making it to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy for only the second time. He nearly took his state side to the semi-finals of the tournament but fell 30-runs short of Karnataka's first innings total.
Owing to his stellar record in the domestic circuit, Abdul Samad was snaffled up for Rs 20 lakh by Sunrisers Hyderabad which made him only the fourth cricketer from J&K - after Parvez Rasool, Manzoor Dar and Rasikh Salam - to earn an IPL contract.
In November 2019, VVS Laxman had rang Milap Mewada, the Jammu and Kashmir coach, to ask if he knew of any good young players Sunrisers Hyderabad could shortlist for trials ahead of the IPL auction that December. The coach instantly gave Abdul Samad's name and the rest as they say, is history. Samad will be training under the best in the business and with players like David Warner, Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow and others.
Irfan Pathan, the player-cum-mentor of J&K had spotted Samad at the Science College ground in Jammu during a camp organised for the state Ranji Trophy team. His family is middle-class. Farooq is a physical-education instructor with a government school in Jammu, and Samad's mother is a home-maker. His older brother Tayyab, once a cricketer himself, is currently pursuing a master's in physical education from the University of Nagpur.
