New Delhi: India's iconic skipper MS Dhoni turned 35 on Thursday. 


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The entire cricket community poured in their wishes for the wicketkeeper-batsman on the occasion.


Some shared videos of Dhoni's best knocks, others remembered his best moments as a Team India cricketer.


But what caught our eye was a lovely short note by veteran cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle.


Taking to social networking site Facebook, Bhogle summed up Dhoni's legacy in a rather articulate manner.



Harsha Bhogle's note on MS Dhoni


A birthday is a time for reflection and in the case of MS Dhoni, a time to acknowledge a massive contribution to Indian cricket.


It has been quite a journey from the long haired destroyer to the well coiffured cool finisher and that is an indication of his shrewdness and skill. I don't think there has been a better finisher in limited overs cricket over a career than Dhoni. He was a fine test player, an excellent T20 cricketer but it was in one-day internationals that he was at his best and often incomparable in the role he played.


Dhoni is rarely rushed and likes to grasp the situation before making a decisive move. You see that in almost all his great one-day innings as a finisher. I don't think he felt for test cricket in quite the same way he did for odis where, if his bowlers weren't taking wickets, he could juggle them around to the other logical end of the innings. In test cricket, he didn't have that option and so maybe he got defensive quickly.


He is 35 now and it will be interesting to see how many more birthdays he has as an India player. Fitness is not an issue and i don't think his reflexes are either. His major issue could be the amount of quality cricket he gets to play because when you are not playing for India the quality of opposition you face is significantly lesser. Then, to turn it on in international cricket, can become a challenge.


But irrespective of how much cricket he plays, he will be seen as an all-time India great. At 35, it is not a bad reputation to have.



Only few months back there were several media reports suggesting Dhoni and some other senior Indian players were not happy with Bhogle's commentary.


This led to several questions being asked of Dhoni and BCCI after Bhogle was taken off the IPL commentary roster.


While there is still no clarity over the matter, it was indeed a wonderful gesture by Bhogle to post this short note on Mahi.