Billings played under Dhoni’s captaincy for a couple of IPL seasons.
MS Dhoni’s off-field habits have once again grabbed headlines after England cricketer Sam Billings claimed that CSK icon keeps a dedicated sheesha man during IPL, whose sole job is to look after his hookah setup.
Billings played under Dhoni’s captaincy for a couple of IPL seasons, experiencing a title win in 2018 and a runner-up finish in 2019.
Speaking on The Overlap Cricket podcast, Billings hailed Dhoni as the best franchise cricketer globally, citing his leadership, calm personality and aura.
“Dhoni. Has to be. I think just in terms of his captaincy and his aura,” Billings said, before sharing insight on Dhoni’s 'calm and cool' demeanor.
“Oh, it’s fantastic. In terms of just so incredibly calm, and he is genuinely cool. There aren’t many cool people. You don’t meet many cool people nowadays, really. But he is just what a lovely guy, considering how much stardom he has,” he added.
Billings also provided a sneak peek into Dhoni’s off-field habits, revealing that latter has a dedicated staff member named Khaleel whose sole job is to manage his hookah setup.
“And so we’d watch every Man United game, because he can’t leave the hotel, he can’t go downstairs to the hotel bar, and he’d get, I’ve seen load of the lads to his room. He has a little sheesha man. He looks after the sheesha. His sole job in his entourage is to look after the sheesha. Khaleel, his sheesha man,” he remarked.
Last year, a video of Irfan Pathan took the internet by storm, in which the former India all-rounder was heard saying that he doesn’t have a habit of going to someone’s room and setting up their hookah for them and that may have cost him a place in the national team.
The remarks quickly went viral, with netizens perceiving that Pathan was accusing Dhoni of favouritism.
MS Dhoni will return to action for CSK during the IPL 2026 season, slated to get underway on March 28.