England’s Sam Curran hopes he’ll still get a chance to learn from MS Dhoni and other Chennai Super Kings legends.
The left-arm all-rounder was snapped up by CSK at the IPL auction ahead of the proposed 2020 season. While the tournament has been postponed indefinitely for now, Curran is still keen to get the opportunity to learn from a spell with the three-time winners.
He said: “I was very excited to move franchises. Chennai is a great franchise with all the big names and I can't wait to play under MS Dhoni.
“Him and Kohli are probably the two biggest but all the Indians are massive superstars. Chennai is an older squad so there are quite a few legends who have made it in the game. Hopefully they will be looking to give tips to the younger players. That's something I'm really looking forward to.”
Brother Tom keen for more Test action
Meanwhile, Sam’s brother Tom, who is signed to Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, wants to find a balance between red and white-ball cricket.
He has been preferred in limited-overs cricket by England and has not seen Test action since the 2017-18 Ashes tour. He has also played plenty of domestic T20 tournaments, included South Africa’s Mzansi Super League and a victorious Big Bash League season with Sydney Sixers. All that followed Surrey’s T20 Blast season and being part of England’s World Cup squad.
He said: “I've definitely got huge Test ambitions still. It's a tough one because I've been playing so much white-ball over the last few years. Without playing Championship cricket it is hard.
“Over the last couple of years there was a huge focus on white-ball cricket with the World Cup and rightly so. Now it's trying to get that balance between white and red ball cricket and developing my skills and awaiting my chance. I'll keep training hard and try to take my chances when I can. It would be amazing to play Tests with Sam. That's definitely a huge ambition of ours.”
Staying positive despite break
Tom Curran admits the enforced delay due to the COVID-19 outbreak is frustrating but he’s using the time to rest and prepare.
He added: “For the last four or five years, it has been cricket non-stop, all the year round. I think for everyone to be stuck indoors and not playing is a shock to the system, everyone is missing it.
“I'm using it as a time to get refreshed mentally. It is a terrible time of course, but we seldom get a break like this in what would be the middle of our summer. We're trying to stay positive so that when we do come back we're in a good position to kick on mentally and physically for the years to come.”