IPL 2021: "IPL will be perfect preparation for T20 World Cup," says DC's Sam Billings

Billings was picked up by Delhi Capitals at the auction earlier this year.

Sam Billings will be seen playing for Delhi franchise in IPL 2021 | AFP

England batsman Sam Billings said the competition for places in the Delhi Capitals' (DC) squad is phenomenal, but he is excited to be part of the franchise and give his best chance in the Indian conditions in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 to prepare for ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

Billings, who was picked up by DC in the IPL 2021 auction for his base price of Rs 2 crore, is looking forward to playing alongside the likes of R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, and Rishabh Pant in the IPL 14.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Billings said: “You look at the squad that Delhi has, and especially the overseas options: you could go with any combination and it would be a successful one.

The competition for places is phenomenal: they obviously got to the final last year, so game time might be limited, but it comes back to the point of preparing for a World Cup and giving myself the best chance in these conditions to prepare for that.”

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The right-handed batsman further added, “Facing those two spinners in the nets is one of the great things about the IPL and other franchise competitions. If you face these guys day in, day out in testing conditions, you're going to get better -- it's impossible not to. That's a huge plus point... I'll be writing a few notes about a few different cricketers that I see about.”

He also feels the upcoming IPL 2021 will be the perfect preparation for T20 World Cup 2021 to be held in India later this year. He is currently in India to play a five-match T20I series.

Billings signed off by saying, “Fingers crossed, it'll be perfect preparation. It's really exciting, cricket coming up. I like to work on the next thing and really focus my energy on this series before we move onto the next one, but the big picture for me, the strategy was always to give myself the best chance of being selected in the World Cup at the end of the year.”

(With ANI Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 10 Mar, 2021

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