Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming once again heaped praise on young English all-rounder Sam Curran for ably replacing Dwayne Bravo in the team's win over Mumbai Indians (MI) last Saturday (September 19) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 opener.
With Bravo, as Fleming confirmed, set to miss another couple of games due to a knee injury, Curran has a terrific opportunity to further strengthen his case of a regular spot in the MS Dhoni-led side.
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Curran picked up 1/28 in his economical four-over spell and then smashed a fantastic cameo of 18 in just six deliveries to help CSK win the IPL 2020 opener versus MI. His left-arm seamers and left-hand batsmanship offer Dhoni different options to play around with, making him a vital cog in his team's wheels.
"Losing Dwayne (Bravo) was a big loss and Sam went a long way in filling that," Fleming told the CSK website ahead of their next match against the Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah on Tuesday (September 22).
"The things that impressed us with Sam is his attitude first and foremost, almost the harder it gets the better he gets, his all-round skill component and the fact that the captain was able to trust him straightaway to go in at a crucial time and hit the way he did."
"Also with the ball, to be a part of it straightaway, almost stepping straight off the plane was a sign of his attitude and what he is going to bring to CSK for the next few years."
Fleming said while Bravo is progressing nicely with his injury, if Curran performance, they won't have to rush the West Indian back and take any risk.
"Bravo is progressing, we are working closely to get him up to 100 percent. We've got three quick games in a row, so we'll look at each game and monitor him each time we train."
"With Sam's performance, it takes a bit of pressure off rushing Bravo back, but he's one of the world's best and to have him in the selection equation is very important to us."
The five-wicket victory over MI must've really boosted CSK's confidence, with a lot of their players, including the captain himself, playing competitive cricket after such a long time.
"It was great to get the points, two teams that were a little bit nervous after not having played for some time. It was always going to be almost a case of who was going to make the least mistakes."
"The way Mumbai started, aggressively against us, it was going to be a tough day. The pleasing thing for us was our character, we held our nerve and as the innings went on our bowlers got better and better," Fleming added.
"When we batted we got set back with some good seam bowling, but our composure and our experience was again very good and we fought back into the innings and got ourselves into a match-winning position that we were able to finish off."
"Some really pleasing aspects, in terms of a morale boost and a good way to get into the competition," he signed off.
(Inputs from PTI)
