Sam Curran reveals personal tragedy spurred him to do better

India captain Virat Kohli won the accolades worldwide, as he made the news everywhere, courtesy his single-handed effort that almost won India the first Test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham. His marathon 149 and a second innings 50 was not enough as England prevailed by 31 runs. An English youngster, 20-year-old Sam Curran, took the limelight with a match-winning all-round effort.

His counter-attacking half-century in the third innings and his four-wicket-haul in the first innings put England in a position of command and eventually won them the match. Moreover, he became the youngest Englishman to win the Man of the Match award and made England’s 1000th test one for the record books, a perfect advert for the game of Test cricket.

Don’t give them anything!

As he opened up later to the media, Curran revealed that the loss of his father as a teenager made him stronger as a person. Curran, the son of former Zimbabwe all-rounder Kevin Curran, lost his father as a 14-year-old in 2012 and stated that the loss of his father had made him strive harder. “It has been pretty tough,” he was quoted as saying in News18.

“I was still young when it did happen, but I’ve got a very strong family. Both my older brothers (Tom, who has played Test cricket for England, and Ben, who plays for the Northants 2nd XI) – we’re all very close, and my mum’s very supportive of all our cricket. I think it made us stronger as a family and me stronger as a person,” the all-rounder iterated.

“I do take that into my game … I just play naturally, and try to take as many chances as I can. I think I’ve learned that as I’ve grown up, with two very competitive brothers in the back-garden cricket … ‘Don’t give them anything!’, and I try to take that on to the pitch,” he remarked.

Curran is perhaps the next biggest all-rounder for the English team, if not the world, and he prefers taking cues from Ben Stokes, who is perhaps the best all-rounder in the world at the moment. “Whenever you watch him operate on the field he has this desire and steeliness within him, similar to Ben. He wants to be involved in the big occasions,” he added.

Little known before the series started, Sam Curran has definitely caught the attention of the cricket world, and now will remain a key figure for England in the upcoming matches.

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