In a surprising turn of events, the stand-in captain of the Punjab Kings, Sam Curran, emerged as a hero for the Chennai Super Kings during their Indian Premier League 2024 match against the Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday. The match-winning knock of Curran guided his team towards victory in Guwahati, but more importantly, it handed Chennai Super Kings a golden opportunity to finish the season in the top 2 of the point table.
The Rajasthan Royals, reeling from their fourth consecutive loss, remain stuck at 16. If they lose their final League match and Chennai Super Kings defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore in their then Dhoni-mentored team led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, they will secure second place in the IPL points table. This is important as it grants teams two attempts to reach the IPL finals.
The happy and excited fans of Chennai could not resist expressing their gratitude to Curran for his heroics. Social media was abuzz with appreciation, and some even unearthed an old video where a young Curran, who was at the time a player for the Chennai Super Kings, spoke about spoiling other teams chances.
Curran, who was released by Chennai after IPL 20-21, declared in the resurfaced video, “We can definitely spoil the party of other teams; they are probably struggling for the playoffs, and now if we beat Kings XI, they will be out as well.”
Chasing a tricky target of 145 runs on a slow pitch, Punjab relied heavily on an unbeaten knock of 63 runs by Curran to secure a victory with seven balls remaining. He stitched together a crucial partnership of 63 runs with Jitesh Sharma (22) and helped the team despite losing his partners in the 16th over. This victory not only propelled Punjab to the bottom of the table but also significantly impacted the playoff race.
Curran, who is wearing the captain hat for Punjab midway through the season due to the injury of Shikhar Dhawan, along with teammate Jonny Bairstow, will be departing for England on Thursday to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June.
The player of the match, Curran, said it was obviously nice to win. I have thoroughly enjoyed the season, especially captaining the team atmosphere, and have been fantastically excited about the World Cup.
Most England players participating in the Indian Premier League, including Jos Buttler from the Rajasthan Royals, have already left for a four-match T20 series against Pakistan, which is the preparatory measure for the World Cup.
