It’s Just Mind-Boggling How People Worship MS Dhoni in India – Sam Billings

Dhoni is regarded as one of the best captains of India.

The big cricketers in India are not just players but they are worshipped as gods. Former Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar received that kind of place in Indian cricket fans hearts and so did former skipper MS Dhoni, who led the team to glory in the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy.

England’s batsman Sam Billings had the opportunity to play under the leadership of MS Dhoni when he represented Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. Billings added that it was an honour to play with MS, who is well known to get the best out of his young players.

“I had the huge honour of playing with MS Dhoni as my captain at Chennai and seeing his life and seeing how he has to live day by day in terms of being cooped up in a hotel and you literally cannot leave unless it’s to go to training or a match, it’s amazing. It’s just mind-boggling how people absolutely worship him,” said Billing in Headstrong podcast.

On the other hand, Billings added that the people of India are madly in love with the game and they absolutely adore and worship it. Billings stated that it is always a great experience to play in India.

“For me, I think everything that goes with it, is playing cricket in India. It’s something that people can’t just get their head around if you haven’t experienced it either as a fan or a player… An English person in London might say he doesn’t really follow cricket or doesn’t really like cricket, or that nobody kind of likes it, but 1.3 billion Indians absolutely adore and worship cricket,” said Billings.

Meanwhile, MS Dhoni decided to hang his boots in August 2020. Dhoni could only score 37 runs in four innings of IPL 2021 but once again he was able to lead from the front as CSK won five matches out of the seven they played and finished at second place before IPL 2021 was indefinitely postponed by BCCI.