England’s stand-in head coach Graham Thorpe has heaped praise on all-rounder Sam Curran after his match-winning efforts with the ball in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on July 1, crediting the youngster’s stints in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for his recent growth as a white-ball player.
The 23-year-old has been impressive with the ball consistently and on Thursday, he yet again impressed one and all with his bowling efforts as the pacer returned with the stunning figures of 5/48 to guide England to a series-clinching win at the Oval. The third and final ODI will be played on July 4.
Curran plays for MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL and Thorpe said playing in the “high-pressured situations” in the world’s biggest T20 league helped the all-rounder “enormously”.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Thorpe said: “I think it's (IPL) helped him enormously. Every environment Sam has gone into, he's shown that ability to compete and an ability to find a way of putting performances in. From that perspective, playing in the IPL has put him in high-pressured situations and pushed him. His hitting ability with the bat was always there.”
He added, “I think that's progressed to a really good level. He's bowling at important times in the IPL, so he's put under pressure and challenged. At 23, he's getting some really good experiences.”
As Curran is a multi-format cricketer and Thorpe stated it would be a “challenge” for him to deliver with consistency at the highest level, but said England will keep encouraging him to do well.
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The coach further pointed out, “As you know, with someone like Ben Stokes, the amount of work and fitness levels that are required for that is huge. So the challenge for Sam to be a multi-format cricketer is delivering that consistency as well for England time and time again.”
He signed off by saying, “That'll be one of the bigger challenges for Sam going forward. But that very much lies on his shoulders to do that. We know we've got a very exciting cricketer with us, and we just have to keep encouraging him to improve and keep getting better as a player all the time.”
(With ANI Inputs)
