MS Dhoni turns 44: Celebrating a legend of Indian cricket

Legendary Indian wicketkeeper-batter Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is the only captain in the history of international cricket to have won the ODI World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy, turned 44 on Monday.

Under Dhoni's captaincy, the Indian Test side also held the No.1 spot for a period of 18 months. Last month, Dhoni was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame for the class of 2025.

While he retired from international cricket nearly five years ago, Dhoni continues to feature in the Indian Premier League for Chennai Super Kings despite a nagging knee injury.

Dhoni stood in for regular CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad for the majority of this year's IPL after the latter suffered an elbow injury, and led their faltering and imbalanced side with resilience to notch up a few impressive victories towards the end of the season.

The knee injury aside, the years that have passed by have also taken some sting away from Dhoni's aggressive batting.

Dhoni batted as low as at No.8 in a few games but despite the fading powers, the superstar continues to draw full-houses during two months of IPL wherever he plays across the country.

Each of CSK's five title wins in the IPL have come under Dhoni and the franchise continues to expect their 'Thala' to return once again for the 2026 edition.

Dhoni, however, made no such promise.

"It depends. Again, I would say the same thing (that) I have four-five months to decide, there's no hurry to decide what needs to be done," Dhoni said.

"Every year, it's 15 per cent more effort to keep the body fit — not to forget this is top-level cricket.

"It's professional cricket, you have to be at your best and it's not always performance that you can count, because if cricketers start retiring because of performance then a few of them will retire when they're 22." For now, he is enjoying his time away from spotlight in Ranchi, his hometown.

"What is important to see is how much hunger you have, what kind of fitness you have, and how much you can contribute to the team, and whether the team needs you or not," he had said.