Despite playing a key role in winning the 2022 T20 World Cup and making 117 international appearances for England, allrounder Sam Curran has been left out in the cold by the national team since November last year. Unlike many others who are sidelined from international cricket in their late 20s or 30s, Sam Curran is just 26 and vying his trade in the International League T20 (ILT20) for Desert Vipers. The Chennai Super Kings man is still determined to make a national team return.
Player of the tournament in a World Cup win. More than 100 England caps across all formats. Back-to-back Hundred trophies, one as MVP. Million-dollar IPL contracts. A walk-on role in a County Championship three-peat. At 26, Sam Curran has already achieved more than most cricketers manage across their lifetime.
English all rounder Sam Curran’s international career
England cricketer Sam Curran, 26, who received the MBE honor from King Charles III in 2024, has an impressive net worth thanks to his all-round skills and deals worth millions from the Indian Premier League (IPL).
From heroics as Player of the tournament in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia to being on the fringes of the national team, it has been a gradual downfall in the last 2 years for the star all-rounder. Sam Curran has also been overlooked from the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan.
Reflecting on his World Cup in Australia, Sam Curran said it feels like eons ago, where he was the Player of the Match in the final against Pakistan with 3-12 and Player of the Tournament with 13 wickets. Since then, England have gone through tough times having lost in the 2024 T20 World Cup semifinal followed by other series defeats. Recently, they succumbed to a 4-1 defeat in the series against India.
Yet as he heads towards the peak years of most sporting careers, Sam Curran is experiencing a lull: for the first time since he burst into international cricket nearly seven years ago, he finds himself outside of England’s squads in all three formats. There is little doubt that he will be back at some stage, but life on the fringes brings an uneasy novelty.
Sam Curran has kept his head down since he was left out of England’s white-ball squads for their tour to India and the subsequent Champions Trophy, with his focus on the ILT20 in the UAE. But he has decided the time is now right to address it, telling ESPNCricinfo from Dubai that he will be “banging the door” down until he is back in the international set-up.
Sam Curran has taken the setback as well as could be hoped but the two years since England’s T20 World Cup win have not been without their challenges. He was dropped early in their disastrous defence of the 50-over World Cup and his form has oscillated between extremes – as is the case for most players whose calendars are dominated by T20.
Sam Curran is playing for Desert Vipers, Avram Glazer’s franchise, in the ILT20 and his performances helped them finish top of the group stages. He has taken six wickets with the ball but his main role has been with the bat: used in his preferred role at No. 4, he is their second-highest run-scorer and has walked off unbeaten in three successful run chases.
Sam Curran’s batting record in T20 internationals makes for ugly reading – an average of 14.24 and a strike rate of 124.47 – and it is increasingly clear that England have used him out of position. He has had no impact when used as a finisher but can control an innings from the middle order: his only T20 half-century for England came in his only innings at No. 4.
Currently, Sam Curran has scored 267 runs at a strike rate of 121 and picked up six wickets from 10 matches contributing to the Vipers’ run into the knockouts of this 2025 season. He still remains hopeful of a national callup as things are not that sunny in the national team.
English left hander batter Sam Curran wish to be in English colors after his omission from India Tour 2025
Sam Curran also expressed his disappointment at not getting the nod for England’s limited-overs tour of India and the 2025 Champions Trophy. The youngster highlighted that he didn’t fit the team composition.
“There were loads of different reasons I didn’t get picked. More so the T20s, but I naturally felt I should have been in both teams. But they’ve obviously got their plans and you can look at the way they’re lining up now. The 50-over side is going to be similar to the T20 line-up, and they wanted the same structure of the top six.”
Revealing his conversation with head coach Brendon McCullum, Curran said it gave him clarity on what he needed to do to regain his spot in the side.
“He just said: ‘You’re not in right now, but go away, score runs and take wickets.’ I respected it a lot: sometimes you just get the easy: ‘It’s not the end.’ But it was pretty clear what they wanted me to do.”
England, nevertheless, lost the five-game T20I series in India 4-1. If McCullum continues to favour high pace, consistent run-scoring may yet be the best way to get noticed. With England’s middle order struggling badly against spin, Sam Curran’s status as a left-hander should play in his favour: he could feasibly be used as the one lower-tempo batter in a line-up of power-hitters, as Ben Stokes was during their 2022 success.
Next on Sam Curran’s itinerary is the IPL, and his public pay cut at December’s auction was further proof of just how fickle sport can be. He fetched a premium price of INR 18.5 crore (£1.9m approx.) two years ago, reflecting his status as a must-have asset after England’s T20 World Cup win. This time around, he was sold for INR 2.4 crore (£225k) – a discount of nearly 90 percent.