It was an amazing experience training under Rahul Dravid: Sam Billings

Sam Billings is just 6 ODIs and 7 T20Is old in his international career but the dashing top order batsman has certainly earned a reputation for himself in his short stay. He is a part of the England limited-overs squad on the tour of India and coming here on the back of impressive performances in the Big Bash League in Australia he was on the money in his first outing in the subcontinent.

In the first warm-up match against India A, Billings scored 93 runs and missed a well deserved hundred. But his knock ensured the England XI overhauled India A’s 304 to spoil the party in former Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s last match as captain winning by 3 wickets. In the innings, Dhoni tested him with pace as well as spin but he played well against all the bowlers and was solid against the chinaman Kuldeep Yadav as well who otherwise picked 5 wickets in the game.

After the conclusion of the List A match Billings said, “It’s (IPL stint) definitely going to help (in the upcoming series). My footwork against spin improved just in the six weeks here working with Rahul Dravid, one of the best players ever to play the game. It’s an amazing experience and one I would like to have again,”

“Spin is to play a massive part, Ashwin and Jadeja are the best in the world as well; We have got quite a few guys with lots of experience over here now,” he added.

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He lauded Dhoni and termed him a hero not just for Indians but for aspiring cricketers around the world. “He’s a hero around India and around the world. What a great career he has had just as a captain! Showed today that plenty of cricket is left in him, didn’t he,” said Billings.

The fact that it was MS Dhoni’s last match as captain attracted a huge crowd at the CCI in Mumbai and over 20,000 spectators gathered and chants of Dhoni…Dhoni could be heard right through the game. “What a great crowd here for a warm-up game and so realistic to the first game of the series in a couple of days! It’s great. All the best to him (Dhoni).

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“It was great to have such a great crowd for a warm up game. It makes it far more realistic and competitive. If it was a completely empty stadium, playing against Mahendra Singh Dhoni, we should have been playing on a Maidan! At the end of the day you would have a crowd whether it’s IPL or Big Bash (in Australia),” said Billings.