Former India captain and Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni needed to bide his time to make his debut with the Indian nationwide cricket group. But as soon as he made his India debut on the age of 23 in opposition to Bangladesh in December 2004, there was no wanting again for this legendary wicketkeeper-batsman.
Former India wicketkeeper and nationwide selector Kiran More has now revealed how Dhoni became the first-choice wicketkeeper in Sourav Ganguly-led Indian group. Dhoni was already making waves in home cricket and India ‘A’ circuit heading into the 2003-04 season and Team India was on the lookout for a alternative for Rahul Dravid because the part-time possibility.
“We were looking for a wicket-keeper batsman. At that time the format was changing and we were looking for a power-hitter, someone who can come at no.6 or 7 and get us quick 40-50 runs. Rahul Dravid played 75 ODI matches as a wicket-keeper and he played the 2003 World Cup as well. So, we were desperate for a wicket-keeper,” More stated on the Curtly & Karishma Show with former West Indies pacer Curtly Ambrose and sports activities presenter Karishma Kotak.
More flew down to look at Dhoni in a sport the place the CSK skipper scored 130 whereas chasing a complete of 170. Dhoni, who was taking part in for East Zone, was not getting an opportunity to maintain wickets as Deep Dasgupta was the designated wicket-keeper of the facet.
Former Indian wicketkeeper Dasgupta had already performed for India and was forward of Dhoni in the pecking order. However, More was satisfied of Dhoni’s expertise and it took him 10 days to persuade Ganguly and the selectors to let Dhoni maintain the wickets forward of Dasgupta in the ultimate in opposition to North Zone.
Dhoni performed the ultimate and did nicely in opposition to the likes of Ashish Nehra and others, who had been a part of the Indian group. He was then despatched with the India ‘A’ facet on the tour of Kenya the place he impressed once more and notched up 600 runs to be roped into the nationwide facet below Ganguly.
“My colleague saw him first, then I went and saw him. I especially flew down and saw him get 130 runs out of the team’s total of 170. He smashed everyone. We wanted him to play in the finals as a wicket-keeper. That’s when we had a lot of debate with Sourav Ganguly and Deep Dasgupta – who played for India then and who was from Calcutta. So, it took about ten days to convince Sourav and his selector to ask Deep Dasgupta to not keep wickets, and to let MS Dhoni keep wickets,” More recalled.
“MS Dhoni kept wickets in that game, and he smashed everyone including Ashish Nehra from the North Zone. Then we sent him to Kenya for that India, Pakistan and Kenya triangular series and he scored about 600 runs there. After that, everything is history,” he added.
