IPL 2020 | Backed Abdul Samad to bowl last over because of his performance and height, admits David Warner

After an injury to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 19th over, David Warner had no other choice to chop and change his bowling options. With still five balls left in the over, the Australian had to choose between the trio of Khaleel Ahmed, Abdul Samad or Abhishek Sharma to complete the 19th over. In the end, SRH’s skipper went with the left-arm pacer Khaleel, who conceded 15 runs in the over, leaving CSK 28 runs to win off the last over. 

With no other option, David Warner in the post-match presentation admitted that he backed the Indian all-rounder Samad to close out the innings for his side, after his initial spell of 1-21 in the three overs. Given his height, Warner reckoned that he was perfect to bowl to MS Dhoni in the last over of the innings. 

“I backed him. I had no option. With Khaleel there, with five balls to bowl, we tried to kill the game there. Could have given it to Abhishek, but I felt with his height and how he bowled, I'd go with him. This wicket was a little bit bad as compared to the last one we played here. You don't really get that length to pull. It was good to see a bit of swing early on. It was nice to see our guys back themselves - that was my message to these youngsters,” said Warner in the post-match presentation

On the batting front, Warner seemingly was very pleased with the efforts of the youngsters, Priyam Gard and Abhishek Sharma, who bailed the side out of trouble. From 69-4, the left-hand right-hand combination of Priyam-Abhishek took the Sunrisers to a gigantic total of 164, which eventually sealed the victory for them, taking them to fourth place on the table. 

“I said it in my press conference - when these guys don't get opportunity to bat time, it's going to be difficult for them. I asked them what they thought was a good total, they said 150, we got 160-170. [Bowling at the death] These guys work really hard, 20 minutes at the start is these guys executing yorkers, length and slower balls. We work on that, executing those skills when we need to.”