Birthday special: 36 must-know facts about 'the best finisher' MS Dhoni

Famous as the 'best finisher' in the world, India's sensational cricketer MS Dhoni turned 36 on 7th July.

The wicketkeeper-batsman is India's most successful Test, ODI and T20I captain.

Under his captaincy, team India bagged the top spot in the ICC Test Rankings in December 2009. The men-in-blue also went on to win the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

On the occasion of 36th birthday, here we present 36 must-known facts about Dhoni:

1. Dhoni made his debut in 2004 against Bangladesh and was run out on first ball.
2. In 2007, it was former batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar who recommended Dhoni's name for India's skipper.
3. In 2012, SportsPro rated Dhoni as the sixteenth most marketable athlete in the world
4. Dhoni is a non vegetarian and loves chicken, cooked by himself.
5. Do you know Dhoni acted in David Dhawan's 'Hook Ya Crook' but due to some reasons the movie was shelved.
6. Dhoni's fans are mad for their favourite player but Dhoni himself is a fan of former Australian explosive batsman Adam Gilchrist.
7. Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999–2000 season as an eighteen-year-old.
8. Dhoni follows only one celebrity on Instagram and i.e Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
9. The 36-year-old player used to play for the Central Coal Fields Limited before he became an international icon. He played Sheesh Mahal tournament and the cricketer would get Rs 50 from his coach Deval Sahay for each six that he hit.
10. MS Dhoni has been not out 40 times while chasing target in ODIs for India. Out of those 40 matches, India won 38.
11. MSD has a brother too, who is 10 years older to him. His brother is a Ranchi businessman and loves football.
12. He once revealed that his hair style was inspired by John Abraham
13. He learnt the helicopter shot from his friend Santosh Lal, who was a former Jharkhand cricketer.
14. In 296 matches, Dhoni stumped 97 times in 291 innings.
15. MS Dhoni holds the world record for effecting the most number of stumpings in international cricket with 134 stumpings to his name.
16. Dhoni is a huge fan of motor vehicles and a car freak. His Hummer H2 is among his favourite rides.
17. His love for bikes has led him to own 23 bikes - of which the Harley Davidson is his top pick.
18. Before putting on the wicket-keeping gloves, Dhoni was a ticket collector in Indian Railways.
19. He is also skilled in the fields of football and badminton. Before he ventured into cricket, Dhoni was a goalkeeper for his school football team.
20. Dhoni has three dogs: Sam, a German shepherd, Zara, a black Labrador and Zoya, a Weimaraner.
21. He is a Kishore Kumar fan.
22. Dhoni shares his birthday with Kailash Kher
23. It was in 2007 when MS Dhoni was selected as a captain of Team India to lead in T20 World Cup. It was under his brilliant captaincy that India won the inaugural T20 World Cup of 2007.
24. Some of the most impressive performance of 'captain cool' includes leading India to win the coveted Border -Gavaskar trophies in 2008, 2010 and 2013.
25. In IPL, he led the team of Chennai Super Kings and it was under his able captaincy skills that the team tasted victory in two seasons of 2010 and 2011.
26. In 2013, under Dhoni's command India turn out to be the first team in more than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a test series.
27. Dhoni was the first Indian cricket captain to win an ODI tri-series in Australia (Commonwealth Bank Series in 2008). Talking about dismissals, he is most successful Indian wicketkeeper with 278 catches and 97 stumpings in ODI format.
28. India has won 110 matches under captaincy of Dhoni out of 199.
29. Dhoni announced his retirement from Tests in December 2014. He was also awarded with Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna and Padma Shree.
30. Dhoni is statistically most successfully test captain, leading India to 27 wins, while losing 18 and drawing 15.
31. Dhoni is also the most successful captain in ODIs away from home winning 59 matches and losing 41 with 3 draws.
32. MS Dhoni is the only captain to win all 3 ICC trophies.
33. Dhoni's wicket-keeping gloves are a tribute to Indian Army.
34. In 2011, Dhoni was made an honouarary Lt colonel of India's territorial army.
35. Dhoni became the first million dollar player when CSK bought him in the IPL 1 auction.
36. He is the only wicket-keeper to lead a team in more than 100 international matches across format.