Dhoni turns 35, wishes pour in from fans and fraternity

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) India’s limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned 35 today as the cricket fraternity, from BCCI president Anurag Thakur to his former and current teammates, wished him luck.

Besides former colleagues Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman among others, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan too wished the veteran on his special day.

“#HappyBirthday @msdhoni wish you a great day & ‘tons’ of success!,” Thakur wrote on his twitter handle.

Sehwag wished the Ranchi stumper in his trademark witty style and called for declaring July 7 as ‘National Helicopter Day’.

“Happy Birthday @msdhoni. May you keep doing Anhoni ko Honi.#NationalHelicopterDay,” the Nawab of Nazafgarh tweeted referring to Jharkhand dasher’s now patented ‘helicopter shot’.

The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official handle read: “Happy Birthday to one of the greatest captains of all time, as well as an exceptional batsman and WK, @msdhoni!”.

Senior Bachchan wrote, “Happy birthday MS.”

Lot of India and India A team members wished him on the day. Dhoni is the only Indian captain to have led his side to all three major ICC tournaments. From winning the maiden T20 World Cup in 2007 on his captaincy debut to leading India to a World Cup victory on home soil and helping India maintain the top spot in the Test rankings, he is the most successful Indian captain. In 2013 Dhoni also became the only Indian captain to win the Champions Trophy.

Dhoni has scored 8918 runs from 278 ODIs that he has played so far at a strike rate of 89.27.

Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India remained the number one Test team for 18 months from December 2009. He has scored 4876 runs in 90 Test matches that includes 9 centuries and 33 fifties.