Sam Curran might have been bogged down by the pressure of his price tag in this IPL, but Punjab Kings bowling coach Charl Langeveldt backed the Englishman, terming him a “winner”.
Andre Russell roared back to form by smashing Curran for three sixes off four balls to turn the match in favour of KKR, which sealed a thrilling five-wicket win to keep its playoff hopes alive in the IPL here on Monday.
“He’s a winner. You want to back him. He’s our senior bowler as well, you can have days like this,” the South African said at the post-match media interaction.
Curran, who became the most expensive player of the IPL after PBKS roped him in for Rs 18.5 crore, leaked 20 runs in the penultimate over to finish with figures of 3-0-44-0.
Curran has just seven wickets from 11 matches, and his economy is 10-plus.
“He’s one of those players who can come back and win us a game. It’s just about going back to the drawing board, keep it as simple as possible.” Hailing Russell’s knock, Langeveldt said: “He’s always a massive player, a game changer. We wanted to keep him quiet and tried to bowl outside his hitting zone.” Kagiso Rabada has played just five matches this season for PBKS as they preferred Nathan Ellis over the South African, and Langeveldt said it’s a no-brainer.
“Ellis has been bowling well. He’s been our go-to guy, bowls well inside the powerplay and handles pressure.
“It was a simple decision. I didn’t even think about that and said ‘Okay, we need to go with Ellis’, and he produced again tonight,” he said.
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