MS Dhoni Turns 39: Living Legend 'Mahi' Donned Multiple Hats To Usher Path Breaking Changes In Indian Cricket

Captain Cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni celebrates his 39th birthday today. Take a look at how the living legend Mahi played every role perfectly and led India to its greatest ever victories.

MS Dhoni (Image: AFP/Getty)

New Delhi: India's most successful limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni celebrates his 39th birthday today. Widely regarded as one of Indian cricket's all-time greats, the 2011 World Cup (50-ver format) winning skipper was greeted with wishes from his friends, family, and fans from all across the world. ALSO READ|'The Helicopter 7 Song For Brother From Another Mother MSD', Bravo's Special Gift On Dhoni's Birthday 3 ICC Trophies under his captaincy, most wins (172) as Indian skipper across formats, most runs (10,773 runs), and most dismissals (829) by an Indian wicket-keeper batsman, are a good enough testament of MS Dhoni being one of the living legends of Indian cricket. However, Dhoni's path-breaking contribution to Indian cricket is way beyond his staggering statistics While there is not an iota of doubt that Dhoni's stellar achievements catapult his stature to a cricketing giant, he has truly been a pioneer of sorts in revamping the landscape of the sport. Here is a look at some facets which make MS Dhoni a pioneering figure in Indian cricket It was a long-haired lad with indomitable sporting spirit from Ranchi who broke the age-old dominance of dozens of stalwarts coming from the breeding grounds like Mumbai (S Gavaskar, D Vengsarkar, S Tendulkar, R Sharma), Delhi (MA Pataudi, Bishen Bedi, V Sehwag, G Gambhir), Karnataka (G Vishwanath, R Dravid, A Kumble) and Hyderabad (M Azhar, VVS Laxman). Dhoni made many budding cricketers believe the small-town boys could make it big in international cricket. He became a role model for many B-tier towns born and bred cricketers like Suresh Raina, RP Singh, Pravin Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami (to name a few).. who went on to make a name for themselves in international cricket. In Pics|Happy Birthday MS Dhoni: The 'Captain Cool' Moments Which Makes Him The THALA Of Cricket Dhoni was not the typical conventional cricketer who worked his way up through a well structured cricketing system or a formal coaching grounding. A rather late switch from his first love football to cricket which got triggered off on the back of some bizarre incidents at his school, saw this naturally athletic sportsman become a seasoned wicket-keeper from a pretty decent goalkeeper. A couple of whirlwind knocks in junior cricket and some blistering innings for his state team Jharkhand and India saw this hard-hitting batsman catapult his way into the Indian team..Rest as they say is history. DHONI PIONEERED THE CONCEPT OF A WICKET-KEEPER BATSMAN Dhoni revolutionized the role of a wicket-keeper batsman in Indian cricket similar to what Adam Gilchrist and Brendon McCullum did for Australia and New Zealand respectively. Over the years, India had some technically sound glovesman behind the like Syed Kirmani, Kiran More, and Nayan Mongia, all of whom chipped in with the willow but Dhoni brought in that much-required impetus and aggression to the batting unit with his explosive stroke play and belligerent hitting down the order. Over a decade later, he smashed most of the records with his explosive batting and electrifying stumpings. FINISHER PAR EXCELLENCE  From Gavaskar to Sachin, Sehwag To Kohli, Indian cricket was fortunate to have some batting behemoths who have been hailed as the best of their era. However, when it came to the act of finishing games, India lacked a dependable finisher who could seal those nerve-wracking encounters in white-ball cricket. While India was served considerably well by power hitters like Kapil Dev, Robin Singh and Yuvraj Singh, the sheer consistency with which the 'Ice Cool' Dhoni pulled off some sensational wins over formidable opponents in ODI cricket is unparalleled. CAPTAIN COOL - A MASTER STRATEGIST WITH A COOL HEAD ON HIS SHOULDERS MS Dhoni brought in his own distinct style of leadership which best could be termed as a mix of caution blended with aggression. With the 'Captain Cool' Dhoni at the helm of affairs, Indian cricket looked a more assured unit as the master strategist had one or the other trick up his sleeve to outfox the opponents. Sooner than rather, the world took notice of a leader who took some bold decisions, was unfettered by odds, got the best out of his resources, and more importantly held his nerves in the big moments.

India eventually went onto become the Number One Test team in World cricket and also completed an ICC treble (2007 World T20, 2011 ICC World Cup, and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy) in white-ball cricket under Dhoni's captaincy.

DHONI SET THE BENCHMARK FOR FITNESS IN INDIAN CRICKET

Indian cricket was never quite known for its fitness levels and fielding standards in international cricket till the time MS Dhoni arrived on the scene. Dhoni's natural athleticism and superlative fitness levels served a motivation for the youngsters in the team and rubbed off on their fitness drills and training regime. The likes of Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, and Virat Kohli transformed the 'Men In Blue' into a world-class fielding unit. Virat Kohli inherited that legacy from Dhoni and much to his credit has taken the fitness dimension to another level. On his 39th birthday, fans across the world remember Dhoni, the iconic cricketing star who was the first to break the conventional and 'purist' shackles and become an innovator of sorts in unleashing an unorthodox but highly effective style of cricket, be it with his dynamic leadership, explosive and entertaining strokeplay, and razor-sharp reflexes as an ace glovesman.