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When Mahendra Singh Dhoni was surprisingly named India's captain in 2007 as senior players backed out of the inaugural World Twenty20, he responded by leading his team to the title.

Two years later, Dhoni was at the helm when India topped the Test rankings and, another two years later, he captained the nation to their second World Cup triumph in front of adoring home crowds in Mumbai.

He's played a total of 355 games for his country but still remains India's best limited-overs player for his uncanny ability to conjure wins in pressure situations.

As ‘captain cool’ turns 34 today, here's a look at a Dhoni special; the kind of innings which came to define the understated man from Jharkand.

It was the third game of Sri Lanka's seven-match ODI series on their 2005 tour of India. Batting first, Sri Lanka hammered 298, courtesy Kumar Sangakkara's 138 off 147 balls.

India were right under the cosh in their reply, losing opening batsman Sachin Tendulkar in the very first over. It was then that captain Rahul Dravid decided to promote the 24-year-old, long-haired Dhoni up the order.

The transpiring scenes left the Jaipur crowd delirious.