Dhoni is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains produced by India.
Dhoni is the only skipper in the history of cricket to have won all three ICC white-ball trophies – 2007 World T20, 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. He also led India to the top of the rankings in the longest format of the game.
Dhoni may have called time on his international career in 2020, but he continues to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The 42-year-old captained CSK to a record-equalling fifth IPL title in May this year.
While Dhoni’s success is known to the cricketing world, his time before he broke onto the scene remains untold.
Speaking to JioCinema, former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim recalled when he saw Dhoni for the first time after becoming a selector for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy.
“The first time I saw MS Dhoni, it was his second year in the Ranji Trophy. He used to play for Bihar. I saw him batting and keeping, and I still remember while he was batting, he had that brilliance which we even saw later, playing big lofted shots to a spinner or a pace bowler. For wicket-keeping, the footwork that one should have was lacking a bit. We worked with him on this at that time, and MS Dhoni’s greatness lies in this that he still remembered what he was taught then,” Karim said.
“When we would chat, he’d speak about it. It was a turning point in MS’ career where he actually got going. In one-dayers, we started to let him open because his batting was so strong and he used to get quick runs.”
Karim then talked about Dhoni’s first series for India ‘A’ where his stellar batting display convinced the national team selectors to finally give him a chance.
“The second turning point was the tri-series in Kenya between India ‘A’, Pakistan ‘A’, and Kenya. MS Dhoni got an opportunity to play because Dinesh Karthik was joining the national team. There, MS kept the wickets well and for batting don’t even ask! We played against Pak ‘A’ twice and he batted so well in the series.”
He added, “From there it was a turning point in his career and after that, his name was in the reckoning. I even remember I was in Calcutta at that time, and Sourav (Ganguly) was the captain. I went to meet him and I told him there is this keeper who should come into the Indian team because he was batting so well and was such a safe keeper. Unfortunately, Sourav hadn’t seen MS play just before we toured Pakistan, and he wasn’t selected for that tour. But he was after that.”