Sam Curran's worth soared after he was named Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup in 2022. The Punjab Kings paid INR 18.50 crore to sign the Englishman in the auction. To their dismay, the 25-year-old, nonetheless, fell short of their expectations in the IPL 2023. In spite of this, the cricket player's management chose to support him and kept him on for a more season.
Aakash Chopra, a former cricket player, expressed surprise at the decision, pointing out that the young player hasn't really created an impression in the previous 12 to 17 months. He referred to Curran as "an expensive asset" and feels that the team ought to have let him go to make room for a different cricket player. He reminded Curran’s failure in the IPL and SA20 and mentioned that the only reason the England international succeeded in Australia was because of the long boundary.
“I was extremely surprised. Why did you retain Sam Curran? They have parked 18.50 crore rupees in one place. I won't call him a non-performing asset but a very expensive asset for sure. He was sold for 18.50 crore rupees because there were only three all-rounders in the small auction,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“However, if you see his performances in the last IPL, the SA20 now, or the last year, he hasn't done anything special for the last 12-17 months. He just played well in the 2022 T20 World Cup and that too because the side boundaries were very big in Australia,” the 46-year-old added.