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“Keeps growing and growing”: Jos Buttler appreciates T20I growth of key player Sam Curran

Dixit Bhargav
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"Keeps growing and growing": Jos Buttler appreciates T20I growth of key player Sam Curran

England have become the second team to qualify for ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-finals. Captain Jos Buttler and his men have joined New Zealand as the second-ranked Group 1 team to move to the next round from Super 12s.

England’s progress was guaranteed post winning their last Super 12 match against Sri Lanka in Sydney tonight. However, it wasn’t a victory as convincing as they would’ve liked especially after a 44-ball 75-run opening partnership between Buttler (28) and opening partner Alex Hales (47) whilst chasing a 142-run target.

A middle-order collapse resulted in England needing five runs off the last over which they managed to achieve via a Chris Woakes cut for a boundary on the fourth ball of the over. Still yet to find top form in this format, all-rounder Ben Stokes (42*) was exceptional in remaining calm and composed without wickets falling continuously from the other end throughout the run-chase.

Jos Buttler appreciates T20I growth of key player Sam Curran

Admitting that he didn’t enjoy the closeness of a match after they had gained a certain advantage, Buttler hailed Stokes for proving his mettle in a crunch situation. Stokes, who hasn’t been assigned a particular role per se in this English T20I setup for now, can perform all kind of roles according to Buttler.

Buttler, who also wholeheartedly praised Player of the Match Adil Rashid (1/16) and Hales, joined former England captain Michael Vaughan in expressing approval of all-rounder Sam Curran. Having cemented his spot on the back of fantastic death-bowling skills in addition to his tendency to contribute across divisions, Curran is England’s best bowler in this World Cup.

“He’s someone who keeps growing and growing. Having such a good run of games in the team, again he’s that sort of fierce competitor who wants to be in the tough moments. He’s got real method to what he’s doing and he’s got a lot of different options which makes him tough to line up,” Buttler told the broadcaster with respect to Curran during the post-match presentation ceremony.

In four matches thus far, Curran has picked 10 wickets at an average of 9.40, an economy rate of 6.40 and a strike rate of 8.8. Currently the joint third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, Curran will doubtlessly be eyeing the top spot with potentially two more matches to be played.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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