Irfan Pathan elated after SRH pick Jammu & Kashmir's Abdul Samad in IPL 2020 auction

Irfan Pathan, the Indian swing pacer has certainly started grooming young talents in his time away from the game and has turned out to be a bridge for the exceptional talents to make their way into the IPL. In the last three years, he has found a couple of good players, who have made their way into the high-end T20 tournament. And, now Irfan is certainly enjoying his role of player cum mentor of Jammu & Kashmir and has come up with a cherishing tweet regarding the same.

Indian Premier League has changed the whole scenario of cricket in India and the young and domestic talent has been getting ample opportunities to showcase their calibre. The domestic players are just in need of an experienced person, who can nourish and enhance their game to a level that can help them get into one of the biggest T20 cricket leagues. Moreover, IPL has emerged as one of the places where the domestic cricketers get an opportunity to perform and attract the sight of the national selectors.

Irfan Pathan is happy to watch that Rasikh Salam and Abdul Samad in IPL

Irfan Pathan has been working as the mentor of Jammu and Kashmir cricket from last two years. Last year, Rasikh Salam, the right arm pacer, successfully got a worthy contract of 20 Lakhs INR from Mumbai Indians and went on to play a couple of games for them in IPL 2019.

Rasikh hogged the spotlight from one of the trial tournaments staged for the selection of Vijay Hazare Trophy as he took a brilliant hat-trick. However, it was Pathan, who took the right-hand pacer to the coach of Jammu and Kashmir cricket team and the rest is history.

In IPL 2020 auction, Abdul Samad, the right-hand batting all-rounder from J&K, now became the second player found by Pathan, who was picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for the upcoming season at his base price of 20 Lakhs. His stats in List A career are quite brilliant as he has 474 runs in 15 games with a best of 130*.

Irfan Pathan feels proud over their success and shared a heartwarming post that read: “When I joined Jammu Kashmir cricket as a mentor cum player my aim was 2 take J&K cricket forward. It’s been most fulfilling 2years. #rashiksalam playing 4 @mipaltanlast years n now #Abdulsamad getting selected 4. @SunRisers. Worth all d hard work going 2 districts n finding talent,”.

It was quite evident from the post that Irfan Pathan is relishing his post of mentor cum player and is looking forward to finding some more young cricketers, who are struggling to pave their way into the spotlight.

Here is the post from Irfan Pathan:

When I joined Jammu Kashmir cricket as a mentor cum player my aim was 2 take J&K cricket forward. It’s been most fulfilling 2years. #rashiksalam playing 4 @mipaltan last year n now #Abdulsamad getting selected 4 @SunRisers .Worth all d hard work going 2 districts n finding talent

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) December 23, 2019