5 days ago
'MS Dhoni Was An Intimidating Player': AB De Villiers' Birthday Wish For 'Captain Cool'
Legendary Indian wicketkeeper-batter Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned 44 on Monday. 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, called time on his international carrer on August 15, 2020, leaving his fans heartbroken. However, he still continues to cast his magic for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, where he even captained the franchise in 2025 season in the absence of regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Recently, South Africa legend and IPL great AB de Villiers lavished praise on the 'Captain Cool' of India and revealed that his side always had a tough time while planning against MS Dhoni.
"It was very difficult to plan for MS Dhoni. When he was on song, nothing worked. Later on, we discovered that sometimes you could get away with wide deliveries with the seam, especially in the back end of his innings. We tried it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't," de Villiers said on JioHotstar's '7 Shades of MS Dhoni'.
"The guy's class - not many game plans worked against him. I have a lot of respect for him and his achievements throughout his career. He was definitely an intimidating player to play against. What a fantastic career he had," he added.
IPL franchise Mumbai Indians also took to X (formerly Twitter) and extended the birthday wishes for Dhoni.
𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 to the legend jo अनहोनी को होनी कर दे #MumbaiIndians
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) July 7, 2025
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.
