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Recovering from a back injury, England all-rounder Sam Curan says he is gutted to miss the IPL this season but feels his decision to opt out of the auction was the right one.
Curran said it would have been too soon to return to action as he nurses the most serious injury of his young career.
"I'm gutted not to be there. It's a frustration watching from home," Curran, who played for Chennai Super Kings in the past two seasons, told ESPNCricinfo.
"I wanted to go (into the auction) but I didn't at the end – which was probably the best decision. Looking back, IPL probably came a little bit too soon."
The 23-year-old, who bowls left-arm medium pace, had sustained a stress fracture on his lower back during the second leg of IPL in October last year.
"I definitely want to go back (to the IPL) at some stage because you learn so much about your T20 game there: it's a tournament when you live and breathe cricket. You go down for breakfast every day and you're sitting with superstars, sitting down and chatting about the game."
Curran had felt pain in his back during CSK's loss to Rajasthan Royals in October and scans later revealed that he had suffered a stress fracture of the lower back, ruling him out of the T20 World Cup and the Ashes.
He is now looking to put up a good show in Surrey's County Championship opener against Warwickshire at Edgbaston next week, while the main focus remains on getting his place back in the Test series against New Zealand in June and T20 World Cup in Australia in October.
"It's been a long winter. I'd never really experienced an injury before and missing out on what I have has been pretty hard. They're probably the two biggest series or tournaments as a player: a World Cup for your country and an Ashes series down under," he said.
"...for now, it's about starting these first six Championship games, trying to put in performances for myself and for Surrey. The Test matches in June are my initial goal and the end goal is probably the World Cup."