Sam Billings Defends his IPL Commitment after Being Criticized by Kent Fans

England cricketer Sam Billings will fetch a hefty pay for turning up in the upcoming Indian Premier League.

Billings had represented Islamabad United, Kent, Sydney Thunder and Delhi DareDevils in the past years and he will don the yellow jersey and play alongside MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina in the 11th edition of the cash-rich Indian T20 tournament.

Billings, who was earlier named the captain of the Kent unit, will miss the initial leg of the championship games in England next season. He was criticized for the same, and there were accusations of him opting for money over country.

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The cricketer said he played in the IPL in the previous two seasons just to gain experience and therefore kept his base price low.

Billings on angry Kent fans

“It’ll be good to get some clarity out there – I’ve seen a lot of angry Kent fans,” Billings explained. “The agreement Kent and I had, six months ago, about the IPL – months before I’d even talked to anyone about the captaincy – was about what price point I was going to put myself at. I’d done the two years on the lowest bracket with Delhi Daredevils. The experience was phenomenal.” he said.

He also said he had a feeling of being unsold in the auction and was ready for it.

“There was an agreement that if I get picked up, brilliant, otherwise it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I was very open to not going. I wasn’t naive to the fact that I had Shane Watson, Imran Tahir – those guys in my price bracket. I was very aware I might miss out.

He was picked for £110,000 by the CSK camp while many including his national team’s skipper Joe Root went unsold.

He added that it is the high time people give importance to the league.

“But the changing face of the world of cricket is moving rapidly, and people need to be aware that these opportunities do not come up often and you can’t afford to miss the IPL. If the Test captain (Joe Root) is putting his name in the hat then surely people have to wake up and see, ‘OK, maybe we need to take it onboard, and it’s not pyjama cricket and blokes wanting to chase the cash’.” Billings said.

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