England all-rounder Sam Curran said he still hoped to play under India great MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League — and get one over older brother Tom — despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The 21-year old was the most expensive England player in November’s initial IPL auction, being sold to Chennai Super Kings, captained by Dhoni after a succesful 2019 stint with the Kings XI Punjab.
Meanwhile the 25-year-old Tom, also of Surrey and England, was signed by the Rajasthan Royals.
This year’s IPL was meant to start on March 29 before being delayed due to Indian government lockdown and now with it extended to May 3, there is no certainty about when, or indeed if, the 2020 edition will take place.
“No-one knows,” Sam Curran told reporters in a conference call with Tom.
“It (the IPL) might happen this year, it might be cancelled, but we have to follow the government guidelines.”
Chennai are one of the IPL’s most successful teams, having won the tournament three times.
“I was very excited to move franchises,” said Sam. “Chennai is a great franchise with all the big names and I can’t wait to play under MS Dhoni.
“Hopefully I will play against Tom, hit him everywhere and then hit his stumps.
“Dhoni exudes calm,” added Sam, who said only Virat Kohli, Dhoni’s successor as India captain, could rival him in terms of superstar status in cricket crazy India.
“Chennai is quite an older squad so there are quite a few legends who have made it in the game,” said Sam.
“Hopefully they will be looking to give tips to the younger players, so that’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
Sam had been preparing for a ‘massive’ three-month stint in Asia after being selected for England’s tour of Sri Lanka, which was abandoned before the start of the Test series.
Tom insisted, however, the lack of cricket was “nothing in the grand scheme of things” even though it was a “shock to the system”.
‘Huge test ambitions’
The England all-rounder Tom hasn’t played red-ball cricket in over a year but says he has huge Test ambitions and is developing his skills to make a comeback.
“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,” said the 25-year-old.
Tom, who has played two Tests for England — both in the 2017-18 Ashes in Australia, hopes to feature in a five-day game alongside Sam.
“Over the last couple of years there was a huge focus on white-ball cricket with the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 and rightly so,” he said.
“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.”
Sam added: “As Tom said, it’s a dream. Any game you play for England is obviously a great privilege but I think playing with your brother or a member of your family gives it that extra special feeling.”