England’s wicket-keeper bat Sam Billings showered praise on MS Dhoni’s leadership ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026. Billings played under MS Dhoni’s captaincy when he played for Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Dhoni is known for his astute captaincy and led CSK to five titles in the IPL during his captaincy. The veteran is the joint-most successful captain in IPL history along with Rohit Sharma.

The wicket-keeper batsman is known for his calm demeanor on the field and for getting the best out of his players as a leader.

“In terms of his captaincy, so incredibly calm. He is genuinely cool. There’s not many cool people. You don’t meet many cool people these days. He is a lovely guy, considering what stardom he has and being a superstar,” Billings said on ‘Stick to Cricket’.

Billings revealed Dhoni is a Manchester United’s fan and even has a dedicated shisha man for his hotel room.

“He is a Manchester United fan. We watched every United game because you cant leave the hotel and go downstairs to the hotel bar. He leaves his hotel room open. He has a little shisha man who looks after the shisha,” he stated.

On the other hand, Billings revealed veteran Indian batter Virat Kohli plays with a lot of passion and gave him a send-off on a couple of occasions in the IPL.

“Played against him. He gave me a couple of send-offs. The passion he has. I remember I was walking off that way. Virat was at mid-wicket, I think, and he just did a massive loop just to scream at my face, and I was like why are you wasting your time on me? All the great players have got something special and an aura,” he said.

The 19th edition of IPL 2026 is set to begin on March 28, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.