Did Punjab Kings call before releasing him ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction? Sam Curran reveals
Punjab Kings retained only two players ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction and both of them were uncapped - Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. The Kings have the biggest purse among 10 teams going into the big auction and will be keen to buy back some of their key international players.
Punjab Kings will walk into the IPL 2025 mega auction with the biggest purse and the least number of players retained. The Kings decided to let go of all of their capped players and retained just two players, both of whom are yet to play international cricket - Shashank Singh, the breakthrough star of the last season and wicketkeeper batter Prabhsimran Singh. There's an expectation that the Kings would want to get back the likes of Liam Livingstone and Arshdeep Singh at the least, however, that's for later now.
Sam Curran, another star overseas player, who was a big-money buy for the Kings ahead of IPL 2023 for INR 18.5 crore too didn't get retained by the franchise. However, Curran too was an opinion that he might potentially be back with the Kings next year but with now 10 teams in the competition, there is no certainty despite the presence of a right-to-match (RTM) card. Curran did confirm that he has had talks with the franchise leading up to the retention deadline.
"I've had a few chats here and there but like I said they've only retained two uncapped players," Curran told talkSport. "So, I could still potentially go back but I guess you literally don't know because there's 10 teams in the IPL now and I guess same with my mate Livi. We had loads of great...[overseas players], Jonny was there, we had Woakesy. We had a lot of English players. So, we had a great overseas contingent and we'll see where we all end up."
Curran had a better bowling season for the Kings, taking 16 wickets in the season, however, his economy like many other bowlers in the tournament suffered with good tracks and an impact player. However, his batting returns suffered this time around with 270 runs in 13 matches at a strike rate of 123, much lower than what he had in 2023.
No one can say if Curran will land up with the Kings yet again. However, being a pace-bowling all-rounder, he will surely be in demand, especially since he bowls at the death.