Having Sam Curran in the side is like playing two Ben Stokes: Joe Root after Edgbaston win

England captain Joe Root was all praise for Sam Curran, the 20-year-old left-arm fast bowler who played a key role in turning the first Test against India in favour of the hosts. Playing just his second Test after making an ordinary debut against Pakistan in June, Sam, son of former Zimbabwe international Kevin Curran, picked five wickets at Edgbaston. Besides that, he also hit a game-changing fifty in England’s second innings and helped the team pick up a 31-run victory.

Root, who himself played well in England’s first innings scoring 80, went to the extent of saying that having Curran in the side was like having a second Ben Stokes. Stokes was also at his best with the ball and took three of India’s remaining five wickets on Day 4, including that of Virat Kohli, to seal the game for his team.

Curran very exciting and promising cricketer

“Sam Curran has a great amount of skill. It’s great having him in our side and he’s very exciting and promising cricketer. He just didn’t seem to feel any sort of pressure with the bat and we just love having him in our side, quite like having two Ben Stokes in the side. He is only in his second Test and it’s easy to get carried away, but a great prospect for us,” Root said in the post-match presentation.

Root, whose half-century was the 12th straight against India in as many Tests, said: “I am thrilled to bits. It has been a fantastic team performance despite the ups and downs the credit must go to the bowling unit more than anything. The easy thing to do is to criticise the batters, but it isn’t easy taking 20 wickets on a pitch like this.”

England were in a precarious state at 87 for 7 with a slender 13-run lead in the first innings but kept on winning key moments from there on to eventually have the last laugh. India required 84 runs to win the Test with 5 wickets in hand, including that of Kohli. But wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik who was accompanying Kohli after the batting collapse on Day 3 was dismissed by James Anderson in the first over and the hosts’ tail was exposed. According to Root, it was important to keep calm.

“Coming into today, it was going to be stiff challenge and we knew that if we stayed calm throughout, we would give ourselves the best chance to win. I felt quite calm, might not have appeared to be but it is something I need to work on. That is what the atmosphere is all about, this is why Test cricket is this special – it throws up so many things through the day and we did a good job in staying calm and kept believing in each other,” the England skipper.

The two teams will play the second Test at Lord’s starting August 9.

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