Sourav Ganguly describes how he spotted the hidden talent in MS Dhoni

Sourav Ganguly was known for his ability to identify talent, then back them and create match-winners for the team. A lot of cricketers from his team have said that Sourav identified his men and then got the job done. He himself admits that he picked players who could make a winning impact in a match. One of those cricketers who made his debut under Ganguly and rose to unbelievable heights is former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni coming from a small-town Ranchi, which is that part of India that had never produced a cricketer didn’t just play for the national team but also captained it for over a decade. Individually he is still a formidable batsman and regarded as the best wicketkeeper in the world. It was Ganguly who decided to promote Dhoni up the order from the No.7 position he batted in his first couple of international appearances and it did the trick.

I thought hard on how to make Dhoni a player

“When Dhoni came into the team in 2004, he played the first two matches at No.7. We were playing Pakistan at Vizag even when the team was announced after the team meeting Dhoni was at 7,” Ganguly said talking on Breakfast with Champions.

“I was watching news sitting in my room and thinking how to make him (Dhoni) a player, I knew he had a lot of potential. Next morning after we won the toss I thought let me send him at 3 will see whatever happens,” he added.

It was the match that turned Dhoni’s career around, he had struggled in the first two outing having been run out for a duck on debut. At Vizag, after being promoted to No.3 he thrashed the Pakistani bowlers all around the park and scored 148 to ensure that Team India posted a mammoth total of 356 runs on the board which eventually earned them a 58-run win in the 2nd ODI of the series.

In that team, No.3 was Ganguly’s position but he was willing to stay back and let a youngster get a better opportunity just to see if he could make the best out of it and get the desired results.

“He was sitting in shorts as he knew he had to bat at 7, I told him ‘MS you have to bat at 3’, he said what about you, I said ‘I’ll bat 4 you go in at 3’, he scored 170 (MS Dhoni scored 148 in the game). I think that’s how you can make players, you can never help them improve by pushing them down the order, you have to push him forward only then you will get to know if he has it in him,” Dada said describing how he asked Dhoni to go out and bat before him.

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