(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villers opined on Sam Curran, stating that the Englishman is being overpaid in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a quite a few years now.
Curran had broken the record of highest bid in an IPL auction when Punjab Kings (PBKS) roped him in for INR 18.50 crore in 2023. The all-rounder failed to justify the hefty price tag as he scored just 276 runs and took 10 wickets in 14 matches. His performance dipped in international cricket as well.
De Villiers talked about Curran’s big IPL paycheck, asserting that the latter does warrant that amount.
“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,” de Villiers said as quoted on his YouTube channel.
The legendary batter further gave his take on Punjab Kings’ auction strategy, mentioning that the franchise could have increased their purse to a great extent by releasing Curran.
PBKS acquired the services of 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) in the IPL 2024 auction.
“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.