MS Dhoni, daughter Ziva spend quality time with pets in Ranchi

MS Dhoni is arguably the finest captain to have played the game of cricket. His achievements as a skipper are a testament to his calmness and impeccable man-management skills. His fan-following is on a different level altogether, which was evident during this year's Indian Premier League, where Chennai Super Kings' away fans outnumbered the home fans in some cities.

While the 41-year-old is always in the limelight whenever he steps onto the cricket field, outside it, he is just another ordinary man, finding happiness in the littlest things in life. Recently, the T20I and ODI World Cup-winning captain was seen in good spirits, playing with his pet dogs and daughter Ziva in an Instagram reel posted by wife Sakshi. She captioned the post with a red heart emoji and a dog emoji.

The CSK captain played this year's IPL with a knee injury. With an inexperienced bowling attack, and an injured Ben Stokes, Dhoni had to use his sharp captaincy acumen to help his side compete with some of the more compact teams in the tournament.

After finishing second on the points table, Dhoni's men defeated Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 to make it to the summit clash. Gujarat took the long route to the finals and put on a daunting 214/4 while batting first in the title-decider. The rain-affected went into the reserve day and was shortened as CSK needed 171 to win in 15 overs. Ravindra Jadeja hit a four off the last ball to win help CSK emerge victorious in Ahmedabad.

After guiding CSK to a record-equaling fifth IPL title, Dhoni underwent a successful knee surgery at Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Dhoni has said that if his body permits, he would play another  season as a "gift" to his fans.

"Circumstantially, if you see, this is the best time to announce my retirement. But the amount of love and affection I have been shown wherever I have been this year, the easy thing would be for me to say 'Thank you very much', but the tough thing for me is to work hard for another nine months and come back and play at least one more season of IPL," Dhoni had told Harsha Bhogle at the post match presentation.

"A lot depends on the body. I have six-seven months to decide. It will be more like a gift from my side; it's not easy for me, but that's a gift. The way they've shown their love and affection, I think that's something I need to do for them," he added.