Popularly described as 'Captain Cool' in the cricketing world, the former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is celebrating his 39th birthday today.
Dhoni has been the most successful Indian captain: to date, his various Cricket records remain unmatched. He's the only captain in cricket history to have won all three International Cricket Council (ICC) trophies, (50-over World Cup 2011, T20 World Cup 2007, and Champions Trophy 2013).
In his cricketing career, he's played 350 one-day International (ODIs) and 98 T20Is, having scored over 10,700 and 1,600 runs, respectively. In 90 Tests, he scored 4,876 runs.
It was under Dhoni's captaincy that Team India became the world No. 1 Test side for the first time in 2009. The usually calm and composed cricketer has several records under his belt, like having played the most international matches as Captain, being the most successful captain from India (178 wins in 332 matches), the most runs by an Indian Captain at the One Day International, and the most stumpings in international cricket.
Dhoni has always been honoured by the Indian government, receiving the highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2007), the fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri (2009), and the third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan (2018), for his contribution to the sport.
He is also an honorary lieutenant colonel with the Indian Territorial Army, and a qualified paratrooper.
Fans and his cricketing fraternity alike are showering him with endless love and wishing 'captain cool' well.
In 2014, Dhoni retired from Test cricket after playing his 90th Test for India. In 2017, he gave up his T20I and ODI captaincy as well.