England’s wicketkeeper Sam Billings has decided to skip Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 to focus on the longest format of the game. Billings, who was a part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2022, shared the news via his Twitter handle and thanked the Kolkata-based franchise for the opportunity.
Billings will play County cricket for Kent and look to make it into remain in radar of English selectors in the red-ball/pink-ball format.
“Have taken the tough decision that I won’t be taking part in the next IPL. Looking to focus on longer format cricket at the start of the English summer with @kentcricket,” Billings tweeted.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity @kkriders ! Loved every minute of it. An amazing franchise with some brilliant people. Hopefully see you again in the future,” he wrote in another tweet with photo of him attempting a reverse sweep against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The 31-year-old was picked by KKR for his base price of Rs 2 crore in the mega auction. He got eight chances in the previous season under the leadership of KKR’s new skipper Shreyas Iyer and scored 169 runs at an average of 24.14 and a strike rate of 122.46. His high score in the season was 36. KKR finished seventh on the points table with six wins from 14 games.
So far, he has been part of three IPL franchises including Delhi Capitals (DC) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Overall, he has played 30 IPL matches and scored 503 runs at an average of 19.35 and a strike rate of 129.64 including three half-centuries.
Billings made his test debut earlier this year in the Ashes 2021/22 where England were thrashed by Australia. He also played in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham which Ben Stokes-led England won.
He did not make an impressive debut scoring just 30 runs in the Ashes Test. Against India he scored 36 runs in the first innings. He did not get to bat in the run chase as Joe Root and Stokes pulled off a historic win to draw the Test series.