Long before he became one of Indian cricket's best captains, Sourav Ganguly disclosed how MS Dhoni was discovered and advanced swiftly through the system, outlining the selection process that prioritized raw match-winning ability above gradual development.

There was uncertainty at the start of Dhoni's international career. In December 2004, he made his ODI debut under Ganguly against Bangladesh in Chattogram. He was run out for a duck after just one delivery. That might have caused uncertainty for a lot of players. In Dhoni's case, it didn't.

Then it was under Ganguly’s captaincy when MS Dhoni was promoted to the no. 3 spot in a tough chase against Pakistan in Visakhapatnam, and the keeper-batter scored 148 off 123 balls, announcing himself on the cricketing scene.

Ganguly revealed on a podcast that it was former India selector and wicketkeeper Saba Karim, who advised Ganguly to take a look at MS Dhoni.

“We watch full matches. When Dhoni used to play, I had gone to Jamshedpur to watch him. He did not even know. Saba Karim told me, ‘He hits a lot of sixes.’ So, we picked him straight from there for India A. He played his first match at Wankhede Stadium on my team. He made a hundred and was hitting sixes to the roof,” Ganguly said on Raj Shamani’s podcast.

“We had to take him. Whoever is good has to be fast-tracked. You cannot leave him. If you keep cooking him slowly from behind, he will finish,” Ganguly said.

Not only MS Dhoni, but Ganguly also aggressively promoted youngsters like Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and Virender Sehwag.

“This is the system. If you play with people above your level, your game will rise. If you play below, your game will go down,” Ganguly said.

He also revealed that after Dhoni was selected for the team, he stalled the final call. Sourav Ganguly explained, “I had to see him before taking the final call. So, I stalled that decision for a few days.”