Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were the runners-up of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, coming second to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). They played a revolutionary brand of cricket and had several match-winners in their squad, who stepped up on various occasions.

SRH had plenty of big hitters from top to bottom who showed superior shot-making ability on every ground. One such batter was Abdul Samad, who batted in the lower order and did the finishing duties.

His knocks were impactful and provided some required firepower to the lower order. Overall, he scored 182 runs at a whopping strike rate of 168.51 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 4.15 in IPL 2024.

Samad has been with SRH since the start of his IPL career in 2020 and has played a few match-winning innings for them. He could have been more consistent, but his role is arduous, and several greats falter in this job, the toughest for batters in T20s.

What does Abdul Samad offer?

Abdul Samad is among those rare batters who can hit high-pace well, making him a valuable player. While he has been inconsistent, Samad looks comfortable even against 140+ km/h bowling when in flow.

Remember him hitting the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada, and Anrich Nortje in his maiden IPL season? Since 2023, Samad has struck at 177.27 and has a balls-per-boundary ratio of 3.75 vs pace in IPL.

SRH haven’t used his bowling well, but Samad can also bowl decent leg spin. Clearly, there’s massive potential, and good teams can extract the most out of him.

Why will Sunrisers Hyderabad release Abdul Samad?

The quality of other players will compel Sunrisers Hyderabad to look beyond Abdul Samad. Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins, and Abhishek Sharma are certain retentions, whereas T Natarajan, Travis Head, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are other solid options and will be hard to neglect.

If teams are allowed to keep an uncapped player additionally, SRH will prefer Nitish Kumar Reddy after what he did in the previous season. Further, he is an all-rounder with massive potential and adds more value than Samad.

SRH won’t be able to use Right To Match (RTM) on him, either. They will leave out several quality players who are experts in their department and would like to get at least one back in the auction,

For example, if they retain T Natarajan as their fourth pick, SRH might use RTM on one of Head or Bhuvneshwar, depending on their position when that player comes up for sale. To get Samad back, the team must re-bid in the auction.

Abdul Samad - a value pick in the IPL 2025 auction

Even if Abdul Samad hasn’t been consistent enough, he does an arduous role, where the chances of failure are relatively high. No wonder SRH have kept him despite not performing according to the expectations.

If Samad comes into the auction, which seems certain, teams will go hard after him for multiple reasons. Firstly, he is a lower-order batter who can hit pacers at will and find boundaries from the first ball, making him an ideal candidate for death overs.

Lastly, he is only 22 and can be a long-term investment, and his skillsets will only improve from here on. What else do teams need?

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