England’s promising young all-rounder Sam Curran spoke with delight about his experience of playing in the Indian Premier League for three-time champions Chennai Super Kings.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo about his early days as an IPL cricketer, Curran said the famed CSK duo of skipper MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming and other experienced players in the team have had a great influence on him.
Curran also said the environment within the CSK setup helped him make a seamless transition after being released by his previous franchise Punjab Kings (back then Kings XI Punjab).
“I think it’s a tournament where I got very lucky. I got thrown into it quite young, moved from Kings XI to Chennai, which worked out pretty well in terms of coming to a team where you had Stephen Fleming as a coach, MS Dhoni as captain, some big foreign players,”
Curran told ESPNcricinfo.
“It’s just an environment where you eat and sleep cricket. You’re always around the guys and, you can ask questions, see how guys train, learn new tricks.”
Curran recognises how the immensely popular T20 league has provided a great platform for him to learn and improve his game and develop an ability to deliver under pressure for his side.
“At the IPL there’s no weak team, so whenever you play, you’re under so much pressure. You just, go out there and do what you do and, if it goes badly, you learn from it. If it goes well, you take confidence. It’s a great tournament for me. I’ve loved every minute of it,”
he added.
Curran’s IPL career started back in 2019, when he played for the Punjab franchise and delivered some impressive all-round performances despite the lack of experience. Surprisingly, the cricketer was still released from the squad for the following season, where he turned out for the mighty CSK.
In his very first campaign for CSK in UAE last year, Curran proved to be his team’s stand-out performer. In a season where the Dhoni-led team suffered their first league-stage exit in IPL history, Curran batted at a strike-rate of 131.91 for 186 runs and had an economy rate of 8.19 for his 13 wickets.
After having to make a premature return home from IPL 2021 earlier this year, Curran will comeback to play for CSK when the tournament resumes in September-October.
