Sam Curran

The arrival

Sam Curran arrived through the auction: Kings XI Punjab paid ₹7.20 cr, against a base price of ₹2 cr.

That first season brought 9 matches, 95 runs and 10 wickets at 9.74 an over.

The peak

The high point with the bat was 2023, for Punjab Kings: 276 runs at an average of 27.6, striking at 136.0 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 141.9, with 1 fifty, and a highest score of 55.

With the ball, the best season was 2024, for Punjab Kings: 16 wickets at 10.11 runs an over, while the league's bowlers went for 9.37, with best figures of 3 for 28.

Franchise by franchise

2019, Kings XI Punjab. Bought at the 2019 auction for ₹7.20 cr. 9 matches, 95 runs and 10 wickets.

2020 to 2021, Chennai Super Kings. Bought at the 2020 auction for ₹5.50 cr. 23 matches, 242 runs and 22 wickets; champions in 2021.

2023 to 2024, Punjab Kings, second time round. Bought at the 2023 auction for ₹18.50 cr. 27 matches, 546 runs and 26 wickets.

2025, Chennai Super Kings, second time round. Bought at the 2025 auction for ₹2.40 cr. 5 matches, 114 runs and 1 wicket.

4 spells with two franchises in all. The longest was with Chennai Super Kings, 2020 to 2021. 2022 is missing from the record: a season without an IPL appearance.

Bat, ball and method

Across the career, Sam Curran struck at 136.4. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 142.6, so Sam Curran scored about 6 runs per hundred balls slower than the typical batter of the time. 59% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 85 fours and 41 sixes.

The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 34.3% of the balls Sam Curran faced were dot balls, a lower share than 66% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 17.8 balls, and a four every 8.6.

With the ball, 59 wickets in 1,260 deliveries, at 9.68 runs an over against a league rate of 8.58 for the same seasons: 1.10 an over more expensive than the typical bowler of the time. There was one four-wicket haul, and the best figures were 4 for 11.

31.4% of the balls Sam Curran bowled were dots, a lower share than 85% of the 150 bowlers with 500 balls or more; a wicket came every 21.2 balls.

The fielding record: 24 catches and 1 run-out.

At the auction

Sam Curran went under the hammer four times. The highest price was ₹18.50 cr, paid by Punjab Kings in 2023, more than 9 times the base price. The market cooled over time: the last purchase, in 2025, cost ₹2.40 cr.

Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.

The legacy

Sam Curran made 64 IPL appearances, the last for Chennai Super Kings in 2025, and won 4 player-of-the-match awards.