'Gutted' Sam Curran Vows To 'Come Back Stronger' After Injury Setback

Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Sam Curran, who has been ruled out of the rest of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season this year because of a lower-back injury which also put paid to his hopes of representing England in the ICC T20 World Cup later this month, has said that he is "gutted" by the setback and "absolutely loved" his stay with the Chennai franchise.

The 23 year-old Sam complained of pain in his back after the match against Rajasthan Royals at Abu Dhabi on October 2. He did not bat and leaked 55 runs in his four overs in the game. The scans later revealed the nature of his injury and ruled him out of both the marquee tournaments - IPL as well as the T20 World Cup, which begins on October 17.

"Results of the scan revealed the injury. He (Sam Curran) will fly back to the UK in the next couple of days and will have further scans and a full review later this week from the ECB's medical team," the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement.

It was only his second outing in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021. Overall, in nine IPL games this season, Curran took nine wickets at an economy of 9.93 and scored 56 runs from four innings.

"Unfortunately I have received a gutting news that I will unfortunately be missing the remainder of the IPL season and the World Cup. Extremely gutted...absolutely loved my time with Chennai this season. The boys are doing extremely well," said Curran on Tuesday.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet but I'm leaving with the team in a fantastic space. The boys are playing really good cricket. I want to be supporting them from where I am in the next few days. Once it's all sunk in, I'll definitely be supporting the team and I'm sure they can go all the way and lift the trophy," Curran told CSK website.

"Just want to say a massive thank you to all the Chennai Super Kings fans; I've absolutely loved all your support in the last two seasons I've been playing. It won't be long until I'm back running, bowling and batting in front of all you guys. I'll be back stronger, until then stay safe. Cheers guys," the 23-year-old all-rounder added.

Talking about Curran's injury, CSK CEO KS Viswanathan said, "It's really unfortunate that Curran won't be available for the rest of the season due to a lower back injury. We wish him a speedy recovery and I'm sure he will emerge stronger from this. BCCI has been informed about the injury."

Curran, 23, has played 24 Tests, 11 ODIs and 16 T20Is for England. He was a part of the England Test squad that played India in England prior to the IPL.