IPL franchises reportedly showing interest in Sam Curran

English all-rounder Sam Curran, who starred with both bat and ball throughout the ongoing series against India, is reportedly being eyed by several IPL franchises for the next season of the T20 league.

According to a report in The Guardian, there is interest being shown in Curran by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who, in 2017, acquired the services of another English left-armer, Tymal Mills.

In three matches against India, Curran has picked up a total of eight wickets, and is the third highest run-getter across both teams with 251 runs in five innings, behind only Jos Buttler, at No.2 and the top-scorer Virat Kohli, who is the captain of the RCB team.

Sam Curran's brother Tom has already made his IPL debut, playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders this year, picking up six wickets from five games.

However, Curran's entry into the glittering world of IPL might meet a few roadblocks - with the World Cup set to start from July next year, England have scheduled a series against Pakistan, starting May 5. The 2019 IPL, however, is slated to be held from March 29 to May 19.

In that case, Curran, if selected by one of the franchises in the auctions next year, will have to miss a chunk of the season, following which he would have to take the Ben Stokes route of missing the final stages of the tournament.

A more than useful batsman (always a bonus in T20s), Curran had, after his rearguard knock against India in the first Test, admitted that he was trying to learn from Virat Kohli as to how to bat with the tail.

“I can’t take it all at the moment. It feels like I’m dreaming. To be honest, I tried to learn from how Virat batted with the tail in the first innings,” Curran said.

The RCB side made changes to their management recently, replacing Daniel Vettori with World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten, and adding Ashish Nehra as another coach.