Sam Curran reveals all Surrey players were gutted after Virat Kohli cancelled county stint
Sam Curran has revealed that all the players were excited to share the dressing with Virat Kohli and learn from him during his county stint, but were gutted after he ruled himself out. Curran stated that it was âsurrealâ to be a part of the English bowling attack and he would never forget it.
Sam Curran has been going through a rollercoaster ride for the last few weeks after earning England debuts in Tests and ODIs and now has been eyeing up a chance to challenge himself against the Indian skipper after missing out on playing alongside him for Surrey. Kohli was due to play a month with Surrey in preparation for India's tour of England but a neck injury sustained towards the end of the IPL put a halt to that. Curran had been looking forward to seeing county attacks trying to learn from Kohli but now after he would come against him after being selected in England's T20I squad for the three-match series, which would begin at Old Trafford on Tuesday, where Curran would complete a hat-trick of debuts in a little over a month.
"I was pretty excited when he was meant to be my team-mate at Surrey and I was expecting to be laughing at the other county bowlers. Now if I get the chance it'll be my chance to get taken down! It'll be fun. You want to play against these big names and test yourself, find out where you need to improve. All the Surrey boys were gutted he didn't come because we were expecting some big crowds and learning the way he trains, apparently he's a freak in the gym, so it would have been special to work with him," Curran said as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.Â
India, who completed a 2-0 T20I series win over Ireland last week, should prove a much sterner challenge than Australia provided, with Kohli part of a power-packed batting line-up. England, though,
Curran was drafted into England's ODI squad for the final two matches against Australia and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands, hitting a magnificent century at Old Trafford to seal the whitewash. Curran overcame an expensive start on his ODI debut at Old Trafford to grab two middle-order wickets making him England's youngest one-day wicket-taker ahead of Stuart Broad and it included the sight of Ashton Agar leaving a straight delivery.Â
"I was surprised if I'm honest. Even Jos, as soon as it left my hand, he said, this is ending badly. One of those, [Kumar Sangakkara] was saying it pitched on middle and hit middle, but I'll take it!"
His white-ball debut followed a maiden Test match against Pakistan at Headingley. He joked that in years to come he would describe his first wicket as a caught slip, rather than Shadab Khan being taken at deep midwicket, but said it was "surreal" to be part of the attack.
"It's been a pretty special couple of weeks. Wouldn't have thought it at the start of the summer,
As it stands, Curran has not been included in the one-day squad to face India although that may change if his brother, Tom, does not shake off a side strain which would keep him out of at least the first T20I. There could be the chance of an England Lions appearance in the four-day match against India later in July and Curran would remain in the Test mix if Ben Stokes will be unavailable for the Lord's Test against India due to his trial in Bristol.