Celebrating Captain Cool: 4 aspects of MS Dhoni's genius that are often overlooked

#1 MS Dhoni has the ability to get the best out of all his players

Chahar drew the displeasure of his CSK captain MS Dhoni after consecutive no-balls

This is by far the most important quality for a captain to have and MS Dhoni has showcased his ability to elevate his players' performances time and time again. In his presence, players seem to just inspire themselves to a higher level.

At CSK, pace bowlers like Ishwar Pandey, Doug Bollinger, Sudeep Tyagi, Mohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra and maybe even Deepak Chahar have perhaps performed beyond their capabilities. Batsmen like Shane Watson and Kedar Jadhav, who didn't exactly set the world on fire at other franchises before joining CSK, found their calling at Chepauk.

For India, Yuvraj Singh came back from cancer treatment to flourish under the leadership of his good friend. Even future legends of the game like Ashwin and Suresh Raina haven't played nearly as often for Virat Kohli's India.

This unreal ability of MS Dhoni can be attributed to him leading from the front, giving his players the freedom to express themselves, and the backing that is personified through consistent runs of games. Once MS Dhoni is convinced that he can get the best out of a player, he backs him to the hilt - a trait that has reaped rewards for over a decade.

In the 2007 T20 World Cup, Joginder Sharma and RP Singh exceeded expectations to star in the new format. Even in the 2011 World Cup, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, and Piyush Chawla featured for India - would they have succeeded under other captains? You could go out on a limb and say probably not.

Irrespective of how his career finishes, MS Dhoni will retire from the game as one of the greatest leaders and thinkers cricket has ever seen.

We at Sportskeeda would like to wish him a very happy birthday!

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