Sam Billings reveals MS Dhoni’s unique off-field habit, says CSK legend has dedicated ‘Sheesha attendant’
Sam Billings shares a quirky story about MS Dhoni, revealing the CSK legend travels with a sheesha setup and a person solely assigned to manage it.
Last Updated: 08.25 PM, Mar 17, 2026
The cricket fraternity is awestruck by MS Dhoni and his ‘cool’ nature throughout his cricket career. Similarly, Sam Billings, a former CSK player opened up about MS Dhoni and how much he adores him in the cricket world. Billings played with CSK under Dhoni’s captaincy and hence, he admires him as a person. Dhoni is infamous for helping many players throughout and Billings is one of them.
The English player was asked about a favorite franchise cricket player and he took Dhoni’s name without giving a second thought. No doubt why the captain cool has such a huge fan following on and off the field. However, Billings also opened up about Dhoni’s ‘sheesha habit’ and how he enjoys it very much.
“Has to be Dhoni. I think just in terms of his captaincy, his aura, it’s fantastic. He’s incredibly calm and genuinely cool. There aren’t many cool people. You don’t meet many cool people these days. But he is. Wow, what a lovely guy, considering how much stardom he has. He’s a superstar. Obviously, a Manchester United fan, like myself. We have watched quite a few games together. Because he can’t leave the hotel or go downstairs to the bar,” said Sam Billings on the Stick to Cricket podcast, alongside England greats Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell.
Played against him: Sam Billings
Sam Billings was asked about Virat Kohli and his experience playing against him to which he spoke about the player’s ‘passion’. In some game he got a send-off from Kohli which he still remembers till date. Kohli is one of the best players in the tournament and is also the highest run-scorer in the IPL.
“Played against him. He gave me a couple of send-offs. The passion… yeah, I got bowled out in Kanpur by Yuzvendra Chahal. Yorked myself, round the wicket. Virat, I remember, was at mid-wicket. He took a massive turn just to scream in my face. I was like, ‘Why are you wasting your time with me?’ All the great players have something special, and if you can’t quite put a finger on one aspect in particular,” he added.