England’s Sam Billings believes some big Indian Premier League performances will be the perfect preparation for this year’s T20 World Cup.
The powerful middle-order batsman is targeting an eye-catching tournament with Delhi Capitals to help lockdown his space in Eoin Morgan’s World Cup squad.
Billings was signed by 2020 runners-up Delhi for Rs 2 crore at the IPL Auction ahead of the 2021 campaign.
He said: “After missing out on a World Cup, I've got the bit between my teeth to make up for lost time and build upon the momentum that I built last year.
“That is my focus: I want to be in a winning World Cup team, no doubt about it.
“Fingers crossed, it'll be perfect preparation. It's really exciting, the cricket coming up.
“I like to work on the next thing and really focus my energy on this series before we move onto the next one, but big picture for me, the strategy was always to give myself the best chance of being selected in the World Cup at the end of the year.”
Competition for Places at Delhi
Billings will first feature in the India v England T20I series, which starts on Friday, 12 March, and the ODI series that follows.
He will then stay in India to prepare for his time with the Capitals and is determined not to miss out on a World Cup place this time around.
With that tournament also being held in India, the IPL could prove to be a vital learning curve for Billings at just the right time.
However, he also understands the difficult task ahead of him to get his chance in the DC starting XI.
“You look at the squad that Delhi have, and especially the overseas options, you could go with any combination and it would be a successful one,” he added.
“The competition for places is phenomenal. They obviously got to the final last year, so game time might be limited, but it comes back to the point of preparing for a World Cup and giving myself the best chance in these conditions to prepare for that.”