Former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain AB de Villiers has said that Punjab Kings all-rounder Sam Curran has been overpaid for quite a few years now. PBKS signed Curran for a then-record bid of Rs 18.50 crore at the IPL 2023 mini-auction.
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Speaking during a Q&A session on his Youtube channel, De Villiers said Curran has been overpaid for a few years now, adding that he hasn’t been exceptional for England as well. Curran scored 276 runs and picked 10 wickets as Punjab Kings finished eighth in the IPL 2023 points table.
“I don’t like to be controversial. But, in my opinion, he’s been overpaid for quite a few years now. He’s not a bad player; I like him. He’s had a fantastic World Cup, but that’s quite a few years back. I don’t think he’s had a very good IPL recently. Also, for England, he hasn’t played exceptionally well,” said De Villiers.
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The South African called Curran a wonderful player but insisted that PBKS could have let him go and freed up funds to buy someone new at the IPL 2024 auction. PBKS signed eighth players at the IPL 2024 auction, roping in Harshal Patel (Rs 11.75 crore), Rilee Rossouw (Rs 8 crore),Chris Woakes (Rs 4.2 crore), Ashutosh Sharma (Rs 20 lakh), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (Rs 20 lakh), Shashank Singh (Rs 20 lakh), Tanay Thyagarajan (Rs 20 lakh), Prince Choudhary (Rs 20 lakh).
“He can turn things around like most world class players can. Nothing against Sam Curran. I still think he’s a wonderful player. I just think he’s been overpaid for a few years. Maybe it would have been a good move for them to let him go to open up some funds to buy different players,” De Villiers added.
PBKS SQUAD FOR IPL 2024
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.
