Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has showered praise on Sam Curran for delivering the goods for the team. Curran returned with impressive figures of 3-12 in the all-important final against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup at the MCG on Sunday.
Curran bowled 15 dot balls and didn’t concede a single boundary throughout his spell. The left-arm pacer accounted for Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, and Mohammad Nawan in his quota of four overs. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine bowling performance.
The youngster took a total of 13 wickets in the tournament in seven matches at an average of 11.38 and an economy rate of 6.50. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the Tournament as well.
Hussain said that as Curran has performed consistently, T20 league franchises all across the globe are breaking their banks to have him on board in the team.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain wrote: “You can see why different franchises around the world are paying a lot of money to have Curran on board. Speak to analysts and they say he has already worked out how to bowl to various batters before they have had a chance to tell him. OK, the conditions have been more conducive for bowlers in Australia and it wasn’t the greatest of MCG pitches yesterday, but you still have to bowl to the dimensions and conditions and that is what Curran has done time and again.”
Pakistan could only post a below-par score of 137 runs on the board and Hussain feels if the Men in Green could have posted 150 runs, it would have been a really different story.
“Death bowling cost England in Kolkata in 2016 and it cost them in Abu Dhabi last year but it hasn’t cost them in this tournament,” he said.
“Just look at this final. With three overs to go Pakistan were on 123 and they ended up making 137 so those last 18 balls bowled by Curran and Chris Jordan were hugely important. If Pakistan had got up to 150 it could have been a very different story.”
Ben Stokes played a key role in the team’s win as he scored a crucial knock of 52 runs to help England get over the line in a thrilling chase.
