Former Indian captain MS Dhoni on Wednesday turned 40 and wishes began pouring in from midnight wishing Captain Cool. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and his Chennai Super Kings teammate Suresh Raina were among the first to wish the veteran cricketer.
"A legend and an inspiration! Here's wishing former #TeamIndia captain @msdhoni a very happy birthday. #HappyBirthdayDhoni," wrote BCCI.
Raina shared a small 32-second clip where he looked back at the precious moments he shared with Dhoni. He captioned it, "Wishing you a very happy birthday @msdhoni You have been a friend, brother & a mentor to me, all one could ever ask for. May God bless you with good health & long life! Thank you for being an iconic player & a great leader.#HappyBirthdayDhoni."
Present Indian captain Virat Kohli, senior Indian pacer Ishant Sharma and former cricketer Mohammad Kaif too joined the bandwagon.
Dhoni, who made his international debut in 2004 against Bangladesh, made 538 appearances for India across formats scoring 17,226 runs which spanned from 2004 to 2019. He made his last appearance in India's heartbreaking World Cup 2019 semifinal loss against New Zealand. A year later he announced his retirement.
Dhoni remains the only skipper in world cricket to have lifted three ICC trophies - T20 World Cup (2007), ODI World Cup (2011) and Champions Trophy (2013). It was also under his leadership that India had first reached the top spot in ICC Test Rankings. Under Dhoni, India won 41 Test matches out of 72, 110 ODI matches out of 200, and 27 T20I games out of 60. Besides international accolades, Dhoni has also led Chennai Super Kings to three IPL victories along with the defunct Champions League T20 title in 2010 and 2014.
Despite international retirement, Dhoni is still active in IPL and led the CSK team to the top of the table in IPL 2021 before the pandemic urged BCCI to suspend the tournament at the half-way mark. He will return to action when IPL 2021 resumes in the UAE later this year.
