James Anderson showers praises on Sam Curran for his all-round contribution

If Virat Kohli has grown in stature after his superb knock at Edgbaston, England have found a new hero in 20-year-old Sam Curran. His spell in the first innings rattled the Indian batting line-up and most importantly, his bowling caught the visitors off-guard as many had expected for James Anderson and Stuart Broad to pick wickets. The former, however, has praised Curran immensely for the way he’s played so far in the series opener.

Curran’s four wickets in the first innings had reduced India to 182/8 before Kohli’s exceptional batting overshadowed his brilliance. But he didn’t give up and showed resilience with the bat in the second innings when his team was down and out. England were 87/7 when the left-hander was yet to get off the mark. But then he batted with grit and determination and scored 63 runs to stretch the lead up to 193.

His knock eventually turned out to be the difference as the visitors lost the game by 31 runs. Even in the second innings he bowled well and picked the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane.

He’s an impressive lad

James Anderson, while speaking to Sky Sports, was mighty impressed with the talented Curran and was thrilled to see him bowl well only at the age of 20. “He’s a really impressive lad. I remember me as a 20-year-old, and I didn’t know what was going on, I was in awe of everyone. But he knows exactly what he’s doing, how to set batsmen up, and we saw he has talent with the bat as well,” he said.

The veteran also highlighted the importance of his innings with the bat in the second innings and admitted that it was Curran’s fight which turned the game in their favour. “He’s obviously got a little bit of fight in him as well – to go out in that situation and show the guts he did to get the team back into the match when it looked like we were down and out. I thought it was brilliant to see from such a young guy,” the 36-year-old added.

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