England all-rounder Sam Curran was on Tuesday ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 as well as the upcoming T20 World Cup, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Tuesday.
His brother Tom Curran has now been drafted into England’s squad with left-arm seamer Reece Topley added as a travelling reserve.
“He [Sam Curran] will fly back to the UK in the next couple of days and will have further scans and a full review later this week from the ECB’s medical team,” the ECB release stated.
Curran, 23, complained of pain in his back after the IPL fixture against Rajasthan Royals at Abu Dhabi last Saturday following which scans revealed the nature of his injury and ruled him out of the showpiece event, which will begin on October 17 in the UAE and Oman.
So far, Curran has featured in nine IPL games this IPL season for three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He scalped nine wickets at an economy of 9.93 beside scoring 56 runs from four innings.
Curran will now also miss the reminder of ongoing IPL season, CSK said on Twitter.
“Unfortunately I have received a gutting news that I will unfortunately be missing the remainder of the IPL season and the World Cup. Extremely gutted…absolutely loved my time with Chennai this season. The boys are doing extremely well. It hasn’t really sunk in yet but I’m leaving with the team in a fantastic space. The boys are playing really good cricket. I want to be supporting them from where I am in the next few days. Once it’s all sunk in, I’ll definitely be supporting the team and I’m sure they can go all the way and lift the trophy,” Curran told CSK.
“Just want to say a massive thank you to all the Chennai Super Kings fans, I’ve absolutely loved all your support in the last two seasons I’ve been playing. It won’t be long until I’m back running, bowling and batting in front of all you guys. I’ll be back stronger, until then stay safe. Cheers guys,” he added.
Commenting on Curran’s injury, CSK CEO KS Viswanathan said: “It’s really unfortunate that Curran won’t be available for the rest of the season due to a lower back injury. We wish him a speedy recovery and I’m sure he will emerge stronger from this.:
“BCCI has been informed about the injury,” he added.
England are grouped alongside Australia, South Africa and defending champions West Indies in Group 1 of the T20 World Cup.
England Squad:
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood