IPL 2019 | Different players stepped up on different occasions, claims Sam Billings
Chennai Super Kings’ Sam Billings reckons that a collective effort helped the team achieve success last season as different players stepped up on different occasion en route to the Championship. CSK open their 2019 campaign with a tough tie at home against Royal Challengers Bangalore on March 23.
England wicket-keeper batsman, Sam Billings, was bought by the Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 IPL auction for £71,000. The English batsman put in a match-winning performance in CSK’s second game of the tournament where he scored 56. However, Billings failed to live up to his good start and managed to score just 108 runs at an average 13.6 after 10 matches.
Despite having a disappointing individual tournament, the CSK cricketer insisted that the team did well as a group as different players stepped up on different occasions for the Chennai-based outfit.
"What stood out for me was that ours was a collective effort. Of course, there were a couple of standout performances like (Ambati) Rayudu's consistency and (Shane) Watson's brilliance. Although, actually, if you look at the different games that we won, it was different players at different times stepping up.
"It was phenomenal how much of a team effort it was. Hopefully, more of the same this year," " the England cricketer was quoted as saying on chennaisuperkings.com.
MS Dhoni and the rest of the squad are currently training at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chepauk ahead of the season opener between against Royal Challengers Bangalore on March 23. CSK's decision to retain 23 members from the previous season will benefit the team in the short term reckons Billings who also lavished praise on team captain - MS Dhoni.
"Continuity helps immensely, certainly as individual players, but also as a group, you grow in confidence knowing that people ultimately back you. It allows you to play with freedom and enjoy it.
"Dhoni’s clarity of thought the whole time is astonishing, knowing what you need to do at that very moment and not get ahead of yourself. It feeds off to other players," Billings added.
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