MS Dhoni made his India debut while Sourav Ganguly was captain, but his promotion to bat at No. 3 against Pakistan was his actual turning moment.
The biopic ‘MS Dhoni:
The Untold Story’ about Mahendra Singh Dhoni was released in 2016. Even the filmmakers of that popular Bollywood film, who were advised by Dhoni himself, cannot claim to have included all of the “untold” Dhoni stories. Fair enough, nobody can. It is practically impossible to adequately describe Dhoni with adjectives given the extent of his impact and contribution to Indian cricket. Dhoni’s childhood hero Sachin Tendulkar was the only other Indian player who may have had an impact that was comparable to or even bigger.
When it came to their cricketing prowess, Tendulkar and Dhoni had little in common. Many people think that this is a key factor in their prominence in international cricket.
While the off-field lives of both Tendulkar and Dhoni continue to draw attention, the former wicketkeeper’s aura of mystery makes it more captivating. With Dhoni, there is always the concern of “what comes next?” He is not among the best captains by accident.
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The cricket career of Dhoni is nothing less than fantastic. Four years later, in the first T20 World Cup, the Ranchi man who had seen Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Harbhajan Singh on TV during the 2003 World Cup coached the same group of players to a historic triumph.
There have been several stories about Dhoni’s journey and glory throughout his nearly two decades long stellar career at the highest level – he still captains the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. There is still a lot that is untold. Syed Saba Karim, a former keeper-batter for India, recently described one such occasion when, as a Bihar Ranji Trophy selector, he first met Dhoni and learned about his abilities.
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Dhoni, according to Karim, has always had the ability to make big shots, but his keeping may use some improvement.
The power hitter MS Dhoni makes a good first impression
“MS Dhoni was in his second season of the Ranji Trophy when I first met him. He once competed for Bihar. I watched him bat and keep, and I can still clearly recall that he had the genius to play lofted shots to a spinner or a pace bowler while he was batting. The footwork needed for wicket-keeping was a little weak. At the time, we collaborated with him on this, and MS Dhoni’s brilliance rests in the fact that he still remembers what he was taught. He would talk about it when we spoke. When MS truly got going, it marked a turning point in his career. One-day events , we started to let him open because his batting was so strong and he used to get quick runs,” he said on Jio Cinema.
It was Dhoni’s performance in a tri-series against Pakistan A and Kenya A in 2004 that expedited his entry into the Indian team. In order to persuade the national team selectors that he was capable of competing at this level, Dhoni hammered dazzling centuries. As they say, the rest is history. “The tri-series between India ‘A’, Pakistan ‘A’, and Kenya in Kenya was the second turning point. Because Dinesh Karthik was joining the national team, MS Dhoni was given the chance to play. There, MS maintained the wickets superbly, and don’t even ask about batting! He batted so brilliantly in the series against Pakistan ‘A’, against whom we played twice.
Dhoni’s skill is made known to Sourav Ganguly.
Back when Sourav Ganguly captained the Indian team, Karim remembered having a discussion regarding Dhoni with the former BCCI president. “From that point on, his career took a turn for the better, and his name soon entered the reckoning. I even recall that Sourav (Ganguly) was the captain and that I was in Calcutta at the time. I went to see him, and I urged him that the Indian team should draft this keeper because of how good he was batting and how safe he was. Sadly, Sourav wasn’t chosen for the tour to Pakistan because he hadn’t seen MS perform before. But that was what he sought.
Although Parthiv Patel was India’s first-choice keeper-batter during their historic tour of Pakistan in 2003–04, Dhoni’s brilliant performance didn’t occur until a few months later.
Dhoni made his debut in December 2004 during the Bangladesh tour, however he wasn’t very successful. When he was given the opportunity to bat at No. 3 in an ODI against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam, he quickly gained international attention. The right-hander never looked back after smashing 148 off 123 balls.
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Later, Ganguly admitted that he chose to put Dhoni up the order after spotting him in the nets during a Challenger series. He was persuaded by his spectacular strokeplay that Dhoni could accomplish the same in international cricket.
After guiding the ICC to titles in 2007, 2011, and 2013, and amassing more over 17000 runs internationally, he retired in 2020.
