Happy Birthday Dhoni: Captain Cool turns 34 10 Photos . Updated: 07 Jul 2015, 01:39 PM IST Livemint Captain cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni turns 34 on 7 July. Hailed by many of his ardent fans as the best captain of the Indian cricket team, he is also fondly called Mahi. A look at the cricketer on his birthday 1/10Dashing Debut: Dhoni made his ODI debut in December 2004. The attacking right-handed middle-order batsman from Ranchi soon captivated the cricket world with his game and went on to become one of the most successful captains of the Indian cricket team. 2/10 Young Beginnings: A young cricketer Dhoni with a trophy in hand. 3/10Early days: Dhoni with Jai P Yadav in 2005, in Harare. He took over the captaincy in 2007 and holds numerous captaincy records such as most wins by an Indian captain in Tests and ODIs, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs. AFP 4/10Swag: The captain has also hogged limelight for things other than his game occasionally. His different hairstyles included the longish wild locks in the beginning to the stylish mohawk style later on. Reuters 5/10Mahi the friend: Dhoni drives team mate and friend Suresh Raina on the bike that Raina received for his man-of-the-match performance after India won a match against England in 2006. Reuters 6/10Captain proud: Dhoni with the ICC cricket World Cup trophy after India won the World Cup in 2011 under his captaincy. As is famous, Dhoni shaved his head after the team’s historic victory to thank the Gods. AFP 7/10Happy times: Dhoni with cricket great Sachin Tendulkar who retired last year. Dhoni has often been lauded as the best Indian captain by many players, including Sachin. Dhoni is now the captain in limited overs formats only. HT 8/10Family: Dhoni with his wife Sakshi (left) and their daughter Ziva. Dhoni married his schoolmate Sakshi in 2012. AFP 9/10Birthday bash: The player celebrated his birthday last night with the team. 10/10Not just cricket: Dhoni also co-owns the Chennaiyin Football Club with Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan. PTI