On MS Dhoni’s birthday eve, Waqar Younis lauded Dhoni as the greatest captain while also thanking frontline healthcare staff and doctors including his wife Dr. Faryal Waqar Younis. Pakistani speedster Waqar Younis heaped lavish praise on former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and revealed to fans on GloFans’ chat show ‘Q20’ that Dhoni has indeed done a tremendous job in carrying forward the momentum of the team that started during the era of Sourav Ganguly.

Speaking exclusively to GloFans during ‘Q20’, Waqar Younis said, “Sourav Ganguly was the one who started that journey of improvement for Indian cricket and M.S. Dhoni took that journey ahead. He is a World Cup champion and has won two World Cups. I think he has done wonderfully well for himself, for his country and of course, for his family."

Notably, under the magical leadership of Sourav Ganguly, India reached into the final of 2003 World Cup but failed to cross the final barrier in front of a very strong Australian side. MS Dhoni after taking the reins of the Indian team in the shortest format won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. Four year's later India won the 50-over World Cup to end country's 28-year-long wait for the coveted trophy. MS Dhoni fulfilled the dream Sourav Ganguly had seen and made India the world champions.

Ganguly, who is now the President of the BCCI is regarded as the best captain that Indian cricket has ever produced and it was his captaincy that inculcated a strong winning mentality in the team and the Men in Blue became a force to reckon with outside the country as well. Sourav Ganguly captained India in 146 matches across format and was successful in winning 76 of them. The southpaw had an impressive win percentage of 53.90 during his tenure.

While agreeing to Ganguly’s immense contribution to Indian cricket in a freewheeling chat with fans on GloFans’ official twitter handle, Waqar also confessed that Dhoni as a leader had changed the face of Indian cricket forever and fulfilled his responsibility as a captain par excellence.

“What a cricketer M.S. Dhoni is. The way he led the team, it is difficult to express it in words. He is a very good and big leader who understands things. He is a wonderful human being and coming from a small village and the heights he has achieved plus leading such a big country and team is indeed praiseworthy” Waqar further added.

Notably, MS Dhoni had captained India in 200 matches across formats. With a win percentage of 59.52, Dhoni won 110 matches in his captaincy. The 38-year-old also holds the record for captaining in most number of matches for India.

Dhoni who is currently on a sabbatical from international cricket will lead the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League once again this year. The Jharkhand based wicketkeeper batsman will turn 39 on July 7th.

Dhoni has now passed on the baton to Virat Kohli who according to Waqar is another fierce competitor of the game and is doing a great job both as a captain and player and his determination when it comes to being fit is the main attribute that sets him apart from his contemporaries.

“Virat Kohli has evolved the game and all the formats of the modern-day cricket including T20 Cricket, one day suits him a lot and he is brilliant at test matches. But the biggest difference he brought to Cricket that is followed and watched worldwide is his fitness. He has set a bar of fitness worldwide, for players, I think it is hard to beat. I think for that reason also, you like everything about Virat Kohli. He is fit, he is always in your face, he wants to prove you that he is the best, he is a fighter, so that is why, we all like him,” Waqar said responding to fans question on ‘Q20’.

Kohli in his 89 matches as the captain of Team India has the best win percentage. With his aggressive style of captaincy the Delhi batsman has won 62 matches across formats and lost just 24. He had also become the first Indian captain to register a Test series win in Australia. His performance as a captain and batsman in the upcoming 4-match Test series in Australia will further enhance his stature.

Answering to another fan question during GloFans ‘Q20’ chat show regarding Pakistan’s woeful record against India in the World Cups, Waqar said, “Over the last few World Cups, Pakistan have not won against India. We did well in other formats, we did well in Test matches, but when it comes to World Cups and ODI Cricket, India has always had an upper hand on us. And they deserve it. I think they played better cricket than us,” he commented.

“I remember in Bangalore and back in I think that was in Pretoria in 2003. I remember most of them and I think I have played a couple of them. So they were a very good side and I think on that particular day they just came out with a very positive frame of mind, they played better cricket and played smartly. We did not play smartly; we had games in our hands. If you look at the World Cup in 2011 and then of course back in ’96 also we had the game in our hand, but it is just, we we just threw it away. It is hard to pinpoint why we do that, maybe, it’s just the pressure of the World Cup now because it happens so many times, it is just the psychological pressure on us that we just cannot really win against them but yeah, it’s very-very difficult to pinpoint on one thing,” Waqar concluded.

India have defeated Pakistan on all the 7 occasions in a 50-over World Cup. When it comes to T20 World Cup, India have again beaten Pakistan in 5 out of the 5 matches played between the arch-rivals.