"I turned to Rahul Dravid and asked who is this kid," Sam Billings on first seeing Rishabh Pant

DC will start their IPL 2021 campaign against CSK on 10th April. 

Sam Billings with Rishabh Pant for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in IPL | Getty

England wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings while recalling the moment when he first saw explosive Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant said he was so impressed that he asked Rahul Dravid about him. 

Sam Billings, who was brought by Delhi Capitals for ₹2 crores during the IPL 2021 auction, will return to his old franchise and will reunite with star India batsman Rishabh Pant after 2018. 

Both Billings and Pant were both a part of Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals, in 2016. Pant couldn’t make the most of the opportunities he got in his maiden IPL season as he amassed only 198 runs from 10 matches with one half-century. 

However, after that Pant hasn’t looked back and has notched over 2,000 runs from 68 games to go with one century and 12 half-centuries. 

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

Sam Billings while talking to ESPNCricinfo recalled the moment when he first saw Rishabh Pant. He said that he was so impressed by the latter that he went to Rahul Dravid, who was the Delhi Capitals mentor at that time and asked about him. 

"With Pant, I played with him for 2 years when I was in Delhi. I turned to Rahul Dravid and asked 'who is this kid?' He was smacking Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Morris, Rabada everywhere in the open net," Sam Billings said in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.

Billings said that it’s great to see Pant evolve as a cricketer and added that it would be great to share a dressing room with him. 

"I was just thinking 'this is unbelievable!' and that year he lit up. It’s been great to see him evolve as a cricketer and to be in the same team as him again would be great,” he said. 

Billings, who will join the likes of Akshar Patel and R Ashwin at Delhi Capitals, said that he’s excited to team up with spin-duo. He added that he’ll write few notes about few different cricketers which will help him improve his game. 

"Facing those two spinners in the nets is one of the great things about the IPL, and other franchise competitions," he explains. "[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 concluded. 

IPL 2021 will kick start from 9th April with a high octane clash between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chennai.

Delhi Capitals will start their IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings on 10th April. 

(ESPNCricinfo inputs) 

 
 

By Ankitjit Singh - 10 Mar, 2021

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