Chennai Super Kings (CSK) considered Sam Billings a match winner as they bought him in last year’s auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for INR 1 crore. Though Billings did not play extraordinarily well in the 11th IPL season, scoring just 108 runs in 10 matches with just one fifty, CSK has clearly chosen to invest more time in talented English wicketkeeper-batsman and retained him for the next season scheduled to start in March.
Billings made his IPL debut in 2016 for Delhi Daredevils and played two seasons for them. The 27-year-old has played 21 matches in the tournament, scoring 334 runs at a strike rate of 135.77.
In the last edition, his match-winning knock of 56 (23 balls) against Kolkata Knight Riders impressed former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who at that moment said, “The CSK might have ‘unearthed a champion’ in Billing.”
Billings expresses his delight on Instagram
The UK born-cricketer was extremely happy when he got to know about his retention with CSK for the 2019 IPL season, a decision which was made on Wednesday. ‘Excited’ Billings took to his Instagram to post a picture of himself with CSK players teammates while celebrating the fall of an opponent wicket.
He captioned the picture saying he couldn’t wait to wear the yellow jersey of CSK again in the IPL.
