Mahendra Singh Dhoni celebrated his 43rd birthday at midnight in Mumbai with his wife Sakshi Dhoni and a few close friends. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan also joined the late-night celebrations.
Salman shared a picture from the cake-cutting ceremony on social media, showing him smiling warmly at Dhoni. "Happy Birthday Kaptaan Sahab! @msdhoni," he captioned the post.
A video also has been doing the rounds on the internet in which Dhoni is seen feeding his birthday cake to Salman. Dhoni needs no introduction in the world of cricket and is famous for his calm and stunning captaincy skills on the field in his international and IPL days.
On August 15, 2020, Dhoni announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, bringing down the curtains on an illustrious career. Under Dhoni's leadership, India bagged the top prize in all formats. Under his captaincy, India lead in the Test ranking for 18 months starting December 2009. The side went on to win the 50-over World Cup in 2011, and the T20 world title on his captaincy debut in 2007. Dhoni has one of the most inspiring journeys in sports history.
From working as a ticket collector at a railway station, he transformed into India's biggest trophy collector, leading the team to ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 as skipper. He made his international debut in 2004 and made a name for himself as a ferocious hitter of the cricket ball, but mellowed down with time to a finisher who would guide his team to wins with his calculated aggression and amazing tactics.
Dhoni, known as Chennai Super Kings' Thala (leader), played 98 T20Is for India, scoring 1,617 runs at an average of 37.60, at a strike rate of 126.13. He has two half-centuries in the format, with the best score of 56. Coming to his long format career, Dhoni played 90 matches, scoring 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09. He scored six centuries and 33 half-centuries, with the best score of 224. He is the 14th-highest scorer for India in Tests. As a captain, he led India in 60 Test matches, out of which they won 27 matches, lost 18 and drew 15.
With a win percentage of 45.00, he is one of India's most successful skippers across all eras. He led Team India to the number one ranking in ICC Test Rankings. He is also the only Indian skipper to whitewash Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, doing so in the 2010-11 and 2012-13 series.
The people's favourite Mahi led India in 72 T20Is, winning 41, losing 28, one being tied and two failing to produce results. His win percentage is 56.94. Besides guiding India to ICC titles, he has also guided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to franchise glory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Champions League T20.
He has led CSK to five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Dhoni has also led CSK to two CLT20 titles in 2010 and 2014. Dhoni has played 264 IPL matches, mostly for CSK, other than a stint with Rising Pune Supergiant from 2016 to 2017. In these matches, he has scored 5,243 runs at an average of 39.13. He has also scored 24 half-centuries in the tournament. He also has 152 catches and 42 stumpings.
(With inputs from ANI)
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