“You want me to say something silly?” - Former CSK player slams IPL vs PSL comparisons
Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Sam Billings, who is now playing for the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), shot down questions about comparisons between the two leagues. Billings admitted that IPL was by far the premier T20 competition in the world currently.
Although IPL has a fixed separate window from the last week of March to May, this is the first time it clashes with the PSL. As Pakistan hosted the Champions Trophy this year in February, the tenth edition of PSL had to be shifted to April.
In the post-match presentation of Lahore Qalandar's win over Karachi Kings on Tuesday, April 15, Billings was asked about his views on the level of the PSL and the IPL. The Englishman bluntly replied:
"You want me to say something silly? It's hard to look past the IPL as the premier competition in the world, it's very obvious , every other competition is just behind, you know in England we are trying to do the same like PSL as the second best competition in world, Big Bash too trying to do the same."
Here's a video of the same:
The England keeper-batter featured for the Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL across 30 matches from 2016 to 2022, aggregating 503 runs at 19.53.
Sam Billings scores a quickfire 19 as Lahore Qalandars thrash Karachi Kings in PSL 2025
Billings, meanwhile, scored 19 off 10 balls in his side's game against the Karachi Kings on Tuesday at the National Stadium. Qalandars were led by Fakhar Zaman (76) and Daryl Mitchell (75), who helped them amass 201 runs batting first. For the home side, Hasan Ali finished with four wickets.
In response, only five Karachi Kings batters reached double figures, with Khushdil Shah top-scoring at 39, as they could only manage 136. Rishad Hossain and Shaheen Shah Afridi combined to take six wickets between them, claiming three each, leading to a 65-run victory.